God's Own County

‘Stone the crows’ I exclaimed with incredulity, what is happening in Otley at the Maypole.
Regulars will know that each September for the last 21 years there has been a folk festival in Otley and it now attracts some of the best dance teams from the North of England. In 2012 there was also a Scottish sword dance side Mons Meg Rapper.

Not only that but Otley is the home for several sides of dancers including Wharfedale Wayzgoose.
A “Wayzgoose” was a celebration by printers that dates back to the seventeenth century. This is appropriate as Otley was a printing machinery town where the famous ‘Wharfedale printing press’ was manufactured. Dawson Payne and Elliot, Waite and Saville and latterly Crabtree Vickers have all disappeared under Waitrose car park.

The Wharfedale Wayzgoose offer an almost credible explanation of the recent history of Morris dancing. As you will see Wayzgoose paint their faces black and white and style themselves a ‘border morris’ side. In this case ‘border’ is the English – Welsh border region where many of the dances originated.

The Stone the Crows are a totally black-faced Border Morris side that perform energetic stick dances and need to be fenced in by orange fencing to prevent an outbreak of stick fighting (see photos) Woops it is too late there they go again.

Older than the Otley Folk Festival is another Yorkshire side of Morris dancers The Flagcrackers of Craven are based in Skipton. Well traveled and well connected via the Morris Federation They are usually dressed in extravagant multi-coloured costumes with hats and also have painted black faces.

See our report on 400 Roses

Folk festivals bring out a growing diversity of dancing teams and styles and none are more exotic than the Four Hundred Roses.
‘Four Hundred Roses’ is a group of belly dancers from Leeds, Bradford, Keighley, their current base. They have been around for 7 years and it probably took that long to make all the dresses and collect 400 roses. Their form of folk dancing combines UK folk music and dance with Tribal style bellydance. This creates a feel of an ethnic dance form without belonging to any real-world ethnic grouping.

The unique UK Tribal music is created in Hebden Bridge renown for its arts and music. Stephen Wood (aka “Woody”) creates a fusion of Arabic rhythms and traditional UK instruments and tunes. There may be some assistance from the latest computer technology and musicians on the street during outdoor performances. Four Hundred Roses were lucky to be granted funding by the Arts Council and are now bringing a touch of the exotic dancing to Yorkshire.

This Folk Dancing with an Exotic Touch has some origins in the USA but it is not hard to see the Armenian or Arabic influences nor those of Yorkshires own Morris dancing.
If you are quick you may catch them at the Masham sheep fair or Sowerby Rushbearing. We saw them perform at the 21st Otley folk festival which accounts for the Maypole growing out of one of the dancers heads in the photograph above.

Should you wish to join in or find out more look on the 400 roses web site. Rather confusingly I have found a second web site for 400 roses so may be their are 400 red and 400 white roses of our county and that other one over the hills.

Leeds Grand Theater is hosting a Steve Earl concert on Tuesday 3rd November 2009 and it sounds as though it will be a great event. After an outstanding performance at The End of the Road Festival this last weekend Steve is continuing his tour with songs penned by his late friend and song writer Townes Van Zandt. Mixing songs from the album ‘Townes’ with some of Steve’s more raunchy rock numbers worked at the festival and we can expect more of the same when he comes to ‘The Grand’.

Buy ‘Townes’ which ‘is essentially a country album and if you know Steve Earle’s other stuff don’t expect too much rock but do expect some great ballads – there are no duff songs here’ according to Pete Williams, record reviewer. Steve has a reputation for his political views, trouble with the law, drug addiction and his uncompromising viewpoints, so a bit like other Country stars from the old mould then!

If you miss Steve Earl at the Leeds Grand he moves on to the Barbican in London and you could catch him there but I recommend you get your Leeds ticket now. See you at The Grand.

Other Steve Earl recordings from Amazon