Come One, Come All!
Welcome Spring with the Morris dancers!
It's May Day morning! Help us dance up the sun. Morris dancers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area will gather together with their sticks, ribbons, bells, hankies, and baldrics, for music and dance in our annual May Day celebrations (this year, Friday, May 1st, 2009). We start by waking the sun and bringing it back for a whole year! (Besides being a great deal of fun, is this dedication or what?! You may have noticed that it works, too.)
Be a part of it. Show up while it's dark and watch the Sun make a grand entrance. See the spectacle! Watch the magic! Cheer the dancers! Join in the celebration! Wonder why you're up at this hour!
(Note: Sunrise and event starting times can vary significantly, depending on location. You may need to contact a specific team directly to find out more about the local schedule.)
Berkeley with Berkeley Morris.
Meet at Inspiration Point in Tilden Park around 5:20 am. Dancing continues until about 6:45 Directions here.
Berkeley Morris will perform in various places around Alameda from 11:00 -2:00.
For more information on this and other performances, check the Berkeley Morris dance schedule, email Berkeley Morris or call (510) 524-6966.
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Palo Alto, with Mad Molly, Deer Creek Morris Men, FFL Morris, Wildcat Morris
Meet at 5:30 am. the Palo Alto Baylands. Take Embarcadero East from the US-101 to the end of the road, turn left, go past the airport, bear right, past the Duck Pond and Gate B, right again to the parking lots. Coffee and muffins will be available. Join in, too, as everyone learns and dances Sellenger's Round (or The Beginning of the World). Yes! We actually teach it!
Teams will be be performing around the South Bay throughout the day. Check each team's site for specifics. (Mad Molly will appear at the Palo Alto English dance in the evening).
For more information on these BACDS teams contact: Mad Molly or Wildcat Morris : email squire Elizabeth or call (408) 830-9109.
Deer Creek Morris Men: email Dick
FFL Morris: email Ric.
San Francisco with Goat Hill Morris
Meet around 5:45 in the Twin Peaks parking lot overlooking downtown, the East Bay, and (if we're lucky) the rising sun.
Did you miss Goat Hill on May Day morning? You might be able to watch them perform with Deer Creek Morris on May 10, a Mother's Day danceout at Ardenwood Historic Farm in Hayward, early afternoon.
For more information, contact the team's Squire or call Jocelyn at (415) 731-7104.
Santa Cruz with Seabright Morris and Sword and White Rats Morris
Meet at the Lighthouse on West Cliff Drive around 5:30 a.m. for dancing at 6:00. Take Hwy 1, turn on Bay St. towards the ocean, go all the way to the end, then right onto West Cliff Drive — leave extra time to find parking. There might be coffee and poppy seed cakes.
Sebastopol with Apple Tree Morris
Apple Tree is not a BACDS team but their event is listed here by special request.
Dancing start at 5:30 at the Sebastopol Community Center Youth Annex, 425 Morris Street - actually behind the annex, between the pond and the traffic circle. Morris dancing to watch, country dances to join in, potluck breakfast afterward.
To map the spot, use Google Maps and put in "430 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA". More info: Cliff at (707)-823-6925
Teams listed here are associated with the Bay Area Country Dance Society (BACDS) except for Apple Tree and White Rats. For additional information about BACDS events and programs, please check the BACDS website,www.bacds.org.
Last updated April 24, 2009.
Information updated from Ric Goldman's West Coast May Day page