The Dance We Do
Cotswold
This is the "style" that many people most closely identify as Morris Dancing (or "The Morris"), with handkerchiefs or sticks, deft footwork and high capers.
The costumes are elegant, in our case consisting of bells, white shirts, black breeches or trousers, blue socks and blue, yellow lined waistcoats (weskits). Evocative of an English village green on a summer's day.
At one time, most villages in the Cotswolds held their own distinctive dance tradition. Royal Liberty Morris dance that from the Oxfordshire village of Ascot-Under-Wychwood, a graceful dance style which contrasts well with the more energetic border styles we perform.
The dances normally involve 6 people, though occasionally you'll see 4 person dances or solo jigs.
Border
This is one of the few remaining "Blackface" styles of Morris dancing. With its roots in a string of villages along the English/Welsh border, it's believed to be a much older style than Cotswold. Royal Liberty's interpretation of the style is extremely energetic, involving a boisterous approach to the dancing with heavy, stomping footwork.
The dances almost exclusively use sticks which are struck together or on the ground with considerable vigour and yells of encouragement from the dancers and musicians.
Like the dances, the costume is less refined than that of the Cotswolds, its most notable feature being a coat decorated with brightly-coloured rag tatters, some Border teams "black up" their faces, though Royal Liberty fear no employer nor landlord and prefer the bare-faced look.
The same bells, breeches, socks and shoes are worn as for Cotswold Morris. We perform a selection of dances from the general Border area, as well as a number of invented dances in the same style. Normally 8 people are involved though there are some 6 and 4 person dances.
Molly
Again a less formal tradition from East Anglia and Cambridgeshire. Look out for our signature Molly Sword Dance which may have been adopted from The Rapper Sword dances of Yorkshire.
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