After the last post ceremony in Menin Gate in Ypres, the audience dispersed and I too moved. A bit away from the crowd, atop the Menin gate, Atyudarini and Mr.V were playing in the grass and I went to them. After 10 mins we came down and saw another dance happening. I thought this too is a part of the Closing Gate Ceremony. The crowd was much less now and we stood there with Atyudarini and she too enjoyed the performance!
Turns out its not actually a part of the Closing Ceremony but was the Adderbury Morris dance. It wasn't even a regular event and for the same dance to take place at the same venue it takes several years! We were indeed lucky to have witness this! The next day, I was at Tyne Cot Cemetary and the same troupe was there too, performing. So, who are they and what is this dance?
The origins of this dance is unknown but it belongs to the midland regions of England. Its believed to have been originated in Spain in 12th C CE and then moved all over Europe. In course of time, seveal churches had their own troupes of Morris dancers. It had its ups and downs, periods when it was patronized in 15-16th C CE and periods when it was just practiced in villages by very few people in 17th C. The best period was when Henry VIII has his troupe in this court in 16th C CE!
The death blow to it was the World War I! With all the performers off to participate in war, just one returned alive - Charlie Coleman. He never danced again! However during the same time, Janet Blunt and Cecil Sharp began documenting the dance in journals, and conversation with old time dancers William and John Walton. With that resource, and with tremendous effort and a year of research, finally, the dance was once again revived and was performed after several decades in April 1975.
Since then the dance has been performed at several places. Every year in April its performed in Adderbury village itself. Today, of all the performers, I did meet a young man who would be hardly 10 years old! Turns out his father and grandfather belong to the troupe as well.
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Though they say the roots of their dance is unknown, I see a rather undeniable similarity between the dance and our own traditional Tamil folk dances of Oyilattam, Poikkal Kuthirai, Kummi and Kolattam. Links are to YouTube videos of performances of these dance forms, so see for yourself and decide. It might have gone from India too, for the commercial links between India & Europe is several centuries old and India was a British colony for a solid 200 years!
Since then the dance has been performed at several places. Every year in April its performed in Adderbury village itself. Today, of all the performers, I did meet a young man who would be hardly 10 years old! Turns out his father and grandfather belong to the troupe as well.
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