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| 1/1/24 Morris dancers at Maple Leaf Park |
After stuffing ourselves silly at an all-you-can-eat buffet on
New Year’s Day (unlike most Americans who indulge on Thanksgiving, my family
saves gluttony for Jan. 1), we tried to walk some of it off at Maple Leaf Park.
From a distance, we heard accordions playing. As we got closer, we saw about
a half-dozen people dancing with sticks. I also heard jingling like
tambourines, but I couldn’t tell who was jingling . . . until later I realized
they were wearing bells strapped to their legs. In another number, they waved
white kerchiefs instead of sticks.
Although I wasn’t familiar with it, I figured it was some kind of folk dance. After sharing my sketch on social media and posing the question, several friends guessed it was Morris dancing, and a quick Google search confirmed it. According to Wikipedia and other sources, it’s a form of English folk dance “performed at seasonal festivals and holidays to banish the dark of winter, celebrate the warmth and fertility of summer, and bring in autumn's golden harvest.”
I love it when I sketch and learn at the same time!
Cool info. Something new. Yes - I learn a lot from sketching. Maybe that’s why it is said sketching and drawing rewires the brain somehow. I’ll take that. 🤗 -Roy
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think sketchers are more open to learning because they are always observing, and curiosity about what we are observing is halfway to learning!
DeleteSounds like a fun kind of dancing. Jingles and accordion playing...a good combination. Nice way to spend New Year's Day...food and music.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun surprise to find them dancing in the park because that sort of thing doesn't happen often there!
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