About Us

Fiddlesticks - the truth is out there!

So, who are we?? yes, yes, I know you've read a bit about us on the homepage, but there'more to us than that, you know!

Well, we are an all female dance group, with a largely male band, and we dance in the Northwest Morris style, wearing clogs and dancing with sticks, slings and garlands*. Our ages range from 16 - 60, and we have 18 regular dancers and a strong band of 6 musicians. We live in quite a wide area of Norfolk, from Watton in the west, to Loddon in the east, but are based in Norwich, where we practice every Monday night during the winter.

We come from all walks of life and varying backgrounds, but the one thing we all share is an enthusiasm for our dancing and music. Some of us have been dancing for years, but many had never danced a step when they first joined us. We welcomed 2 new dancers this year, but also still have 1 original member, who has been with the side for 21 years now!

* Re-reading that bit, it makes us sound like we use walking sticks, and have our arms in slings…………its not like that at all!!! No, we hold sticks, slings or garlands when we dance, all a tenuous connection with those old days of clogs and cotton mills……………………see

And what do we do?? Well, we have a current repertoire of approximately 12 dances, having added 3 new ones this year and putting a couple of old ones on freeze for a while. As for where we will be dancing, you can look at our "Programme for 2004" to see what we're planning for this year, but first, here's a potted resume of last year, just to give you a better idea. Last year from May to September, we danced on weekday evenings, at various pubs within a 15 mile radius of Norwich. We also spent days out at Southwold, the Breckland Family Show, the North Norfolk Railway, Sheringham, Moreton in Essex, Walton on the Naze and a weekend in Rouen, France. Not content with just dancing in the warm balmy days of summer, we danced in the cold and wet for the turning on of the Christmas Lights at Aldeburgh in Suffolk and at the Wymondham Dickensian Christmas Fair. As always, we also danced on Boxing Day at the Crown at Banningham, an excellent way to recover from the excesses of Christmas dinner. The traditional start to the year is always May 1st, when we join other Morris sides on Mousehold Heath at 5.00am. Some people think we are mad……………………………….

This year, we've already had a bit of a warm up before the main season starts, when we danced in the Barn at the 3 Horseshoes, Scottow. Many thanks to our dedicated audience who stayed with us for the whole performance, despite it being freezing! Say it myself, but, gosh, we sounded good! This was just a taster for our first proper dance out of the year, when we go to Southwold on Easter Monday. Breaking new ground (well, not literally, I hope) we aim to dance this year on the end of the pier. Lets hope the sun shines for us!!

Which just leaves the question, why do we do it?? A jolly good question, too, and one we often ask ourselves!! We do it because its good fun, good exercise, good friendship. Come along and watch us one day, or send us an e mail. We'll always be pleased to see you, or hear from you. Click here to contact us.

To learn more about Morris dancing, read Phil Starks' excellent: "Everything you wanted to know about Morris Dancing but were too afraid to ask!".

By Kay Nightingale