Welcome
Based in Selly Oak, Birmingham, Black Adder Morris is an any age, any gender side which enjoys dancing, making music and having fun together.
Our dancing style is lively and from the North West Morris tradition, which is why we wear clogs, as was done in the mills of Lancashire. Our particular interpretation of this tradition is highly personal to our side.
When we dance out in the community we dance in clogs and wear rag jackets. When we practice we wear whatever takes our fancy. We have a band of lovely musicians and always welcome more. Our band comprises border pipes, DG melodeons, an accordion, a fiddle, concertinas, pipes (recorders), a mandolin, a drum and tambourine percussion. This list is not definitive so if your instrument differs from it - that's fine. Music to practice is available on request.
No experience is required to come and have some fun dancing with us, so please come and try it, although if you are a musician you will need a reasonable competency on your instrument to keep up.
Events and invitations
We have a busy calendar throughout the year and we are pleased to show you what we are up to in the coming months.
Black Adder welcomes invitations to dance at community events, festivals and pubs, particularly on Thursdays (which is our practice night) or at weekends. We are able to accept invitations if we have enough musicians and dancers available on the suggested occasion. We have to plan well in advance for this to be possible so we almost certainly will not be available for last minute events.
As part of what we do we sometimes offer workshops for groups of children, young people and adults who visit us and who would like to experience this English tradition in an atmosphere of fun. We generally offer these workshops on a Thursday as this is our practice night. Other days are subject to our availability.
We run taster sessions, but most people just contact and appear. We have had a gentle flow of new dancers and some musicians in recent years and we welcome more.
