April 2, 2007
Glorious sunshine beams down on the many displays of Morris Dancing at Oxford Castle during the Fourth Oxford Folk Festival. Revellers perched on the courtyard steps are served toffee apples, flapjacks and reviving coffee from Café Food and the mound is open to gain a vantage point of the brightly coloured costumes and symbolic accessories. An eclectic trade fair fills the courtyard closest to the Westgate and offers woven hand crafted and carved painted wooden items to browse and buy. Traditional dance steps to celebrate the Spring are performed on portable floor surfaces by the contemporary ‘Footnotes’ team who offer an Irish twist to their jigs accompanied by the gusto of a fiddler. Clog dancing reaches out to Cornmarket, holding large crowds as the ‘Buttercross Belles’ fill the shopping precinct with the rhythm of a drum and their jolly floral motifs. Sword dancing proves popular back at the castle as different troupes stroll back and forth the performance courtyards. Even at the top of St George’s Tower, the sound of the Bodhran, accordion and sticks clashing can be heard. Nearer to town, the calls of the squires and bells on the shoes complement the peal of Carfax tower bells that chime quarterly. The bold enthusiastic performance of sets by younger dance troupes, leaping impressively with the flick of the white handkerchief traditional of the Tudor era, is an encouraging nod to the enduring popularity of the Morris.
Strolling between the festival sites, the squire of one troupe engages the audience with tales of the Maidstone witch hunt of 1652 as vivid green dancers tell the story through dance. This truly is a festival of living history, as costumed musicians evoke the Civil War in the grounds of a Castle used as a stronghold by Charles 1. The costumes provide a visual feast, particularly the ‘Bourne Borderers’ with their blackfaces and bedecked boaters. As the children emerge from their mask making activities at the Key Learning Centre it is interesting to hear their reactions to the day. ‘We can see lots of flags’ ‘the dancing in the square just fits’ are two recurring comments as the juniors copy the dance steps of ‘Old Speckled Hen’. The folk dancing is non-stop from 11am to 4pm with some of the senior members of the troupe showing impressive stamina. Wielding sticks, swords and carrying symbolic mythical animals all concerned bring a feeling of the village green to town and capture the energy of a traditional welcome to Spring.
Strolling between the festival sites, the squire of one troupe engages the audience with tales of the Maidstone witch hunt of 1652 as vivid green dancers tell the story through dance. This truly is a festival of living history, as costumed musicians evoke the Civil War in the grounds of a Castle used as a stronghold by Charles 1. The costumes provide a visual feast, particularly the ‘Bourne Borderers’ with their blackfaces and bedecked boaters. As the children emerge from their mask making activities at the Key Learning Centre it is interesting to hear their reactions to the day. ‘We can see lots of flags’ ‘the dancing in the square just fits’ are two recurring comments as the juniors copy the dance steps of ‘Old Speckled Hen’. The folk dancing is non-stop from 11am to 4pm with some of the senior members of the troupe showing impressive stamina. Wielding sticks, swords and carrying symbolic mythical animals all concerned bring a feeling of the village green to town and capture the energy of a traditional welcome to Spring.