| After a few days in Springville recovering from the journey
across the US and catching up with snailmail and other paperwork, it was
time to head north for Canada. The main crossing at Buffalo is the Peace
Bridge and this gets very busy with masses of truck traffic. It took a
couple of hours just to cross the bridge. |  |
 | The reason is the
customs post on the other side. Although there are many gates it still takes
quite a while to get through. Apart from the usual surprise that we own the
RV, and the questions about dairy products and alcohol, we had no problems
and were welcomed into Canada. We then had about an 80 mile drive up to
Toronto and our camp site at Indian Line. |
| The purpose of the trip to Toronto was to attend the Toronto
Morris Ale and meet up with a sword dance team from England. The Ale is a
gathering of Morris teams to dance, sing and drink! The hosts are the
Toronto Morris teams, including the Toronto Morris Men. They normally dance
a Cotswold style but here are dancing more of a Border style. English Morris
(and dance) has a small but keen following in North America. Although this
team is Canadian they are actually more British than we are. Most had
English or particularly Scottish roots. |  |
 | Still with the
sticks and this time surrounding their Tommy who was an outstanding
character. There were over a dozen teams present from as far away as
California (besides England). Several English styles were represented but
some of the best teams had started to develop their own style drawing on a
mix of English styles. There were several "tours" which went out into the
city and danced in various street locations to small but appreciative
audiences. |
| The team we had come to meet up with was Stone Monkey from
Derbyshire, one of the top English exponents of the Rapper Sword style which
originates from the North East. The 'swords' are flexible steel bands with a
handle at each end and intricate patterns are woven without letting go of
the swords. The pace is fast and furious. Many of the shapes created have
names such as the 'toastrack' seen here. The fiddler can be seen in the
background. |  |
 | You never let go of
the swords, even though you may be upside down!. This can be dangerous and
relies totally on split-second timing and teamwork. (It's not a bad feat
with a digital camera's half second delay either!) This tumble always
results in applause. |
| Another of the host teams was Toronto Women's Sword who (not
surprisingly) are connected to the Toronto Men. They had invited the Monkeys
over following their own English Tour last year and provided hospitality for
the week although the Ale was only for the weekend. |  . |
 | They dance a
Longsword style as well as rapper and have an excellent show dance called
Papa Stour. They are not as fast at the rapper but they dance with poise,
elegance and timing which is hard to beat. And they are rightly respected
for it. |
| Morris is usually danced to fiddle or melodeon but some sides use
more unusual instruments such as this bassoon. The musicians also join
forces when they know the tunes well. This guy knew all the tunes and played
with an exceptional style. He was an instant hit with all the musicians and
much appreciated by the dancers for the depth he added to the music. |  |
 | We had met up on
the west side of Toronto but danced on the east. So we had to come back on
the tram. It was quite a long trip so the musicians set to work with a will.
It must have been the noisiest trip of the day. It was appreciated by most
(but not all) of the other passengers. The rest of the Morris folk added the
songs and a good time was had by all.. |
| At the end of the Ale all teams met up for show dances and
communal dances which gave everyone an opportunity to dance. This was a
scratch team dancing Cotswold style with three teams represented. |  |
 | Some folk are into
leading the singing and are ably supported by their peers as shown here.
They tried to raise him higher but the roof got in the way. As can be seen,
a good singer needs to be well lubricated. We had been taken to an old
Canadian drinking parlour earlier in the day to 'sample' the local brew. We
were advised it was terrible but had to be consumed in prodigious amounts.
But we did manage to find some quite decent ale, not quite to English
standards but .... |
| At one of the singarounds, one of the Monkeys had been accused of
cheating by singing words from a book and had been blindfolded! So the
Monkeys took revenge by blindfolding the perpetrator and putting him in the
Rapper dance. He was an excellent sport and the whole show was riotously
applauded by the audience. |  |
 | We did get
interrupted periodically since this was Labour Day weekend and there was an
air display taking part over the city. It did get quite deafening on
occasion. |
| And Morrismen have their own collection of tee shirts of which
this was one example so everyone can understand what it is all about. To
discover the background behind this one go to
http://www.coolcanuckaward.ca/joe_canadian.htm To
me the dance and music world is family and friendship and knowing that you
will be made welcome all over the world. That has certainly been true for us
and we will continue to offer a place for any dancers who visit us. |  |
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