Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

AIBU to say NO! DH wants to start Morris dancing troupe.

162 replies

DeeDee2323 · 04/03/2022 20:32

DH wants to start a Morris dancing troupe. I must say that I don't think it is something that will go down particularly well in our part of Fulham (the expression lead balloon comes to mind).

AIBU to say NO! Help please!

OP posts:
Gonnagetgoing · 04/03/2022 21:06

So in summary sod it let him do it. He could be a mamil instead.

KaptainKaveman · 04/03/2022 21:07

Bloody hell no. It must not be allowed to happen. Morris dancing is weird, patriarchal, demonic and deeply sinister. I mean, have you seen the fucking Wicker Man? HmmShock

Greenmarmalade · 04/03/2022 21:08

Awesome choice of hobby!! I think you’ll be surprised and he’ll have people signing up.

FindingMeno · 04/03/2022 21:09

Not only should you let him go, you should actively encourage him.
It sounds great fun.
Do you have a hobby/ activity you enjoy? Did you ask his permission?

Fernandina · 04/03/2022 21:12

@ErrolTheDragon

Priceless Grin

ErrolTheDragon · 04/03/2022 21:12

I've long wished that the English rugby team would respond to the All Blacks haka with a Morris dance.

Leilala · 04/03/2022 21:13

Jack white hall Morris dancing… just let him own it Wink

oakleaffy · 04/03/2022 21:16

It’s a potential Morris Dancing Troupe, not a Crack- den.
Can’t see the harm!?

Jingle bells 🔔 and white handkerchiefs and clacking poles.

Quite innocent stuff.🙂

winewolfhowls · 04/03/2022 21:19

@hagsrus0

Would they do the stick-and-bucket dance?
Need clarification on this key issue
ohidoliketobe · 04/03/2022 21:21

I'm also from the part of the uk where female "carnival" Morris dancing is a weird type of thing. And there is a local cloggers traditional male troop. All very quaint

LifeWithBellsOn · 04/03/2022 21:22

Absolutely yes, completely and utterly. BTW the correct term is either 'side' or 'team' but never troupe.

Morris dancing is joyful and life-affirming and if you want a (largely) non-judgmental, encouraging, open-minded and generall-not-bothered-by-everyday-twattery bunch of people you will do a lot worse than join the morris dancing community. I met DH morris dancing, I met most of my closest friends and favourite people through the morris, clog & sword community.

Why would morris not go down well in Fulham? One of the best known and most successful men's team hail from Hammersmith (www.hammersmithmorris.org.uk/).

What sort of morris is he proposing? Cotswold? Border? North West?

JellybabyGina87 · 04/03/2022 21:23

LTB

PrawnofthePatriarchy · 04/03/2022 21:23

You have heard the old line? "Try anything once - except for incest and morris dancing"?

DeedIDo · 04/03/2022 21:23

A side surely rather than a troupe? We love our local Morris side. Sounds good to me.

DuckonaBike · 04/03/2022 21:27

@ErrolTheDragon

I've long wished that the English rugby team would respond to the All Blacks haka with a Morris dance.
Me too! Fantastic idea!

BTW someone mentioned blacking faces - it’s fine when Morris dancers do this, it has nothing to do with race and is a really ancient tradition that’s about disguise. Though some modern ones use green paint instead just in case it gets misinterpreted.

I’m not a Morris dancer, but I’m a fan and I think your DH should go for it!

dancinfeet · 04/03/2022 21:27

It’s a traditional folk dance- does he know anything about it, and the history/culture as well as the traditional dance steps and formations or is he just planning on skipping
about wearing bells and wafting a hanky with his mates?

Grendalsmum · 04/03/2022 21:28

My relatives are in a goth morris side - it's awesome!

JayAlfredPrufrock · 04/03/2022 21:29

Morris Dancers can be strangely sexy.

Longwood Thump anyone?

cockeyedoptimist · 04/03/2022 21:32

Just to echo the previous poster who mentioned Hastings . Just send him there on May Day bank holiday. There are more Morris dancers than you can shake a stick at 😂

Fernandina · 04/03/2022 21:34

@ErrolTheDragon

I've long wished that the English rugby team would respond to the All Blacks haka with a Morris dance.
That would be just the best thing ever Grin
Ormally · 04/03/2022 21:38

@Xiaoxiong

Time for lots of Terry pratchett references about jumping about with bells on waving a hanky in the air and dancing "Mrs widgery's lodger" Grin
It was him coining the phrase 'sexual morrisment' that finished me off!
lovelyweathertoday · 04/03/2022 21:39

Hammersmith Morris are a joy to watch.

godmum56 · 04/03/2022 21:39

@hagsrus0

Would they do the stick-and-bucket dance?
hahahahaha that's sexual morrisment
CurbsideProphet · 04/03/2022 21:39

He wants to start a Morris side out of the blue with no previous knowledge or experience? Yes sounds very likely 🤔

If this is serious, then he would be better looking for an established team that needs new members.

Fernandina · 04/03/2022 21:41

@dancinfeet

It’s a traditional folk dance- does he know anything about it, and the history/culture as well as the traditional dance steps and formations or is he just planning on skipping about wearing bells and wafting a hanky with his mates?
My ex's lot didn't waft about with hankies and bells, they thundered about wearing tattercoats and clodhoppers, whilst belting each others' great sticks.