The Rumworth Morris

dedicated to the excellent performance of Lancashire Morris

The Garland Dance

Along with the Polka Dance, this was one of the two dances that Rumworth spent eighteen months practising before they danced out in public. It was developed by Geoff Hughes and Rumworth but unlike The Polka it was not based on an historical notation or description. We see this unique dance as our "signature dance" and have never taught it outside the membership of the club!
The dance has figures which alternate between column and quadrille and includes standard North-West figures such as Step Up, Cross Over and Up-in-Fours performed in column, and standard quadrille figures such as Ladies Chain and Grand Chain. The Garland Dance also features a unique caper, which we like to call the Rumworth caper. It’s a great favourite with spectators, especially small children who can often be seen trying to copy it. (By the end of the dance, some of them are doing it better than certain members of the team!) Like many traditional dances it finishes with Cross Morris, but unusually this is danced in quadrille formation.
	"Up-in-fours", Albert Dock, 1985
Like the Polka Dance, the Garland Dance finishes suddenly with dancers in the quadrille formation bringing the garlands down and remaining motionless and in silence until the Conductor's whistle signals the end of the dance. As the dance begins in column formation this sudden finish with all the dancers facing inwards to the centre of a square is very effective and always catches the audience by surprise!