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Molly dancing is a form of English Morris dance, traditionally done by out-of-work ploughboys in midwinter in the 19th century. It was largely ignored by folk dance collectors, who recorded only a handful of dances before the practice died out in the 1930s. The practice was revived in the 1970s.
Molly dancing is a dance tradition from East Anglia, first attested in the 1820s. The first recorded use of the word "Molly" in relation to this tradition was in 1866. [1] The dance was performed on Boxing Day (26 December) and Plough Monday (the Monday after 6 January). [2] It died out during the early 1930s, the last dancers seen dancing in Little Downham near Ely, Cambridgeshire, in 1933. [3] The term molly itself was used since at least 1754 for 'a milksop, an effeminate man'; [4] see also Molly house.
In 1911 Cecil Sharp interviewed a man from Little Downham about Plough Monday dancing, but he did not consider it worthy of further study, and the practice was largely ignored by collectors of folk dances until the 1930s. [5] In 1930, Joseph Needham and Arthur Peck collected four molly dances from a dancer from Girton and a concertina player from Histon, near Cambridge; [6] they continued to collect information about molly dancing over the following three years. [7] William Palmer recorded a broom dance performed by the Little Downham dancers in 1933. [8] In 1978, Russell Wortley and Cyril Papworth published four dances collected from the Comberton molly dancers. [9]
Molly dancing is most associated with Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany. Tradition has it that as a way of filling the gap between Christmas and the start of the spring ploughing season, the ploughboys would tour around the village landowners, offering to dance for money. Those who refused would be penalised in various ways (see Trick or treat) including having a furrow ploughed across the offender's lawn.
The dancers, wishing to gain employment from those same landowners shortly afterwards, would attempt to conceal their identities by blacking their faces with soot and dressing up in a modified version of their Sunday best, typically black garments adorned with coloured scarves and other fripperies. It was originally an all-male tradition but with one of the members—the Molly—dressed up as a woman. The Molly team seen by William Palmer at Little Downham in 1933 consisted of six men, one dressed as a woman; of the remaining five, one carried a broom and money box, and one played the accordion. The musician wore ordinary clothes, while the other men wore frock coats and top hats; all five had blackened faces and wore ribbons on their clothes. [10]
Molly dancing was revived in the late 1970s, when teams began to once again perform the preserved dances. [2] In 1977 the Cambridge Morris Men resumed molly dancing to coincide with the revival of the Balsham Ploughboys. The Cambridge Men still dance Molly during the day on Plough Monday. The Morris dance revival of the 1970s led to the creation of many new sides, which nowadays usually involve both men and women.
In recent years, Molly dancing has enjoyed a popular revival both in East Anglia and the East Midlands, one of the best-known teams being the Ouse Washes Molly Dancers. The largest regular assemblage of Molly dancers is at the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival, established 1980, which is held in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, every January.
Modern Molly dancing demonstrates the clearest distinction between "re-enactment of tradition" and "modern interpretation of tradition" of modern morris dancing. Elaine Bradtke wrote a PhD thesis on the inherent post-modernism of the Seven Champions, one of the first and best examples of modern Molly dance. Many other teams have developed Molly, inspired by the unhistorical but very effective military formations of Seven Champions (e.g. Ouse Washes, Gog Magog, Handsome Molly in New Jersey, Countess Isabella's Automata) whilst others have taken it in new directions, equally unhistorical but at their best equally effective in very different ways; e.g. Norwich Shitwitches (now renamed Kit Witches) and Pig Dyke Molly.
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