Dance Teams 2025

Black Diamond Mixed Cotswold Morris were formed in 2016 and named after one of the first steam locomotives to operate on the Darlington and Stockton Railway George Stephenson’s “Black Diamond”. Our dances all come from the Cotswold village traditions, danced with sticks and or handkerchiefs. During the Summer months we can be found dancing in the towns and villages around Darlington and at Days of Dance and festivals further afield. Distinctive in our black and white costumes, we bear an image of our namesake loco on the back of our waistcoats.

Black Gate Morris are a thriving mixed gender side with a wide range of ages and experience, formed in 2018 in Newcastle. Look out for their striking trade mark red hankies as they dance Cotswold style morris. This includes some of the familiar traditions as well as more recent additions from Raglan and Woodside. They have begun to make their mark on the morris circuit and are becoming regulars at Saltburn, one of their favourite gigs.

Celebrating their 40th Anniversary this year Feet First are the UK’s longest running Appalachian Dance Team. They perform traditional Appalachian steps choreographed into performance dances in much the same way as the teams in the Appalachian mountains of America do. The dances themselves have a wide variety of influences including Irish, Greek, clog, ballroom, Morris and jazz. Above all the dancing is high energy, fast and fun.

Flagcrackers of Craven are a mixed Border Morris side based in Skipton,  North Yorkshire.  The dancers wear brightly coloured Tatter jackets, leg tatters with bells, decorated hats and clogs. We paint our faces with red and black as part of the tradition of facial disguise. We dance with sticks and lots of energy and enthusiasm. Flagcrackers have a great band to accompany the dancers, with melodeons, concertina, mandolin, whistle, Ukulele, and a big marching drum.  In the summer we can be found dancing at festivals, or with other Morris sides, or around our local area.

Flash Company are a mixed side from Otley, West Yorkshire, formed in the year 2000.  They perform in their distinctive black and yellow tatters at music and folk festivals and Morris events across the country. They perform many self-penned Border, Molly and Appalachian dances to more modern tunes, including blues and jazz.

Glaisdale Cloggers were formed in 2021 by Eileen Till and Anna Downes who have danced with teams around the UK for many years. The group regularly performs at folk festivals and concerts around North Yorkshire. Accompanied by mostly traditional folk tunes and songs, their dances draw from a range of styles including Lancashire–Irish, Northumberland and Music Hall. The team is very much looking forward to performing at Saltburn Folk Festival in 2025.

We are predominantly a Cotswold Morris Side, but in our repertoire we do a Border Style dance as well as two Longsword Traditional dances, these being North Skelton and Helmsley. On top of that we manage to slip in some Rapper dancing. We are based in Pool in Wharfedale and currently have around 10 full time members. As well as covering a number of the Cotswold traditions, we also have some unique dances that we have created ourselves; these are special to our side and are part of the history we have collected along the way.

Based along the Tyne Valley, in Northumberland, Hadrian Clog performs a wide variety of clog and hard shoe dances, from the North East of England and beyond. Traditional steps (with a 'Hadrian' twist) are paired with some of their favourite folk tunes, performed on concertinas, fiddles, ukulele and melodeon. A family-friendly team, Hadrian Clog are passionate about teaching dances to members of all ages and keeping clog dancing traditions alive.

Harlequin North-West Morris were formed in 2011 as Harlequin Women’s Morris, but we are now a mixed side (although we currently only have one male dancer, we would love to have more). We dance traditional and new dances in the north-west tradition and our kit features primary colours, and clogs with bells. Our musicians accessorise their kit with harlequin colours and play a variety of tunes to get your toes tapping. We are a very friendly group and always welcome new members: dancers, musicians or both.

High Spen Gems are a women’s rapper team based in Gateshead, a sister side to High Spen Blue Diamonds who were founded in the village of High Spen near Gateshead by Fred Forster in 1926 and over the years both men and women have kept the tradition going. They dance figures from the High Spen tradition, wearing white shirts, black trousers and colourful sashes. In addition they time travel back to 1913 to run monthly ‘have a go at rapper’ sessions in the Band Hall at Beamish Museum and feature in their Christmas entertainment, as well as performing at festivals and events across the North East.

Jet Set Border Morris formed in 1999 after several of our founder members discovered border morris dancing at Whitby Folk Week. Our dances include traditional ones, but also those created by our team members, incorporating stories and legends from the local history of Whitby and the North Yorkshire moors - including landmarks, smuggling, jet mining and Whitby’s famous 199 steps.

Leeds Morris Men began as an offshoot of Leeds University Folk Club – hence our colours. The owl on our waistcoats is part of the Leeds coat of arms. We have been dancing locally for nearly 70 years, and regularly perform at events and festivals all over the country. We have also toured France, Brittany, Germany, Holland and Belgium to much acclaim. Ours is the Cotswold tradition (bells, sticks and handkerchiefs) and is taken from the repertoire of a number of towns and villages in the Midlands and Southwest of the country. Although rooted in the past, Leeds is always looking to the future of the Morris. Currently we have an active team of around 20 members, but we are always looking for new recruits and give a warm welcome to any prospective dancers or musicians. 

Leven Sword are back for a third year. Formed in 2016, our mixed side aims to bring back to life the local tradition of Yorkshire Longsword in the Great Ayton and Stokesley area following a gap of 100 years (as far as we know).  Based in Great Ayton, we dance the nearest recorded traditional dance Boosbeck, our own dance High Green and new for this year a dance we spotted Maltby Sword perform at last year's festival which they kindly shared with us. When we dance out we like to finish with a song and tune session so please join in if you spot us around Saltburn on Saturday.

Locos are a mixed Border Morris team who perform mostly modern dances, many created by team members. The costume is inspired by Darlington's railway heritage complete with tall stovepipe hats copied from Locomotion No. 1, George Stevenson's engine. New dancers and musicians are always welcome.

Maltby Sword Dancers are a mixed-gender all-ages team hailing from Maltby, South Yorkshire. Specialising in long sword and rapper dancing, the current incarnation of the team was founded in 2002, after a 21 year hiatus from the previous team! You’ll be sure to spot them around the festival with their red and yellow stripy socks!

Founded in 1949 as the King's College Morris Men, the Newcastle Kingsmen evolved into widely acclaimed masters of the traditional Northumbrian Rapper sword dance. Winning multiple awards over the years, the Kingsmen continue to showcase the Rapper tradition from the pubs of Newcastle to festivals across the country. Like pebbles, the Kingsmen glisten, worn smooth by the elements; often picked up, occasionally tossed, always fascinating. But beware, don't let them dry out, they will become dull. Instead watch them swirl with the rhythm of the tide, hear them tippety tap and smell their salty goodness.

Newcastle Kingsmen Clog formed 10 years ago to formalise a long tradition of clog dancers accompanying the Newcastle Kingsmen Sword Dancers. Since the,n the team has grown in team members, repertoire and reputation, appearing at numerous festivals and events including Sidmouth Folk Week, Utrecht Early Music Festival and Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering, where they won the group clog trophy in 2017. They mix traditional clog steps with exciting rhythm patterns and new dances composed by the team, to create performances that are rooted in the past but also move the tradition forward. They practice weekly at The Cumberland Arms, Byker, and are building a reputation for teaching dances as well as performing them.

Pateley Longsword was formed in 2004 by experienced dancers from other Morris traditions. All our longsword dances are devised by ourselves and we try to bring a vitality and freshness to the tradition. We intersperse the longsword with other dances such as a Basque dance or a Border Morris dance. Pateley Bridge is in Nidderdale, designated an area of outstanding natural beauty. The nearest towns are Harrogate and Ripon, North Yorkshire.

We are Ramshackle Morris, a brand new York based mixed Border side, dabbling in some Cotswold along the way. We formed in November 2024, and we practice at the University of York. 90% of us are students, and we are all under 30. We pride ourselves on being a queer side, with our kit colours (black, purple and yellow) being inspired by the non-binary flag to represent how we as a team do not conform to gender stereotypes within the Morris world. We are very proud to be an inclusive young side to keep this wonderful tradition going, and attract as many new people as possible!

Rattlejag Morris, based in Retford, Nottinghamshire, is a mixed dance side formed in 2002, with the aim of reviving and developing a dance tradition, based in our own local area. Taking inspiration from the local ploughboys of the 19th century and using material collected from East Yorkshire,Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, we dance Plough Morris. Each dancer and musician has their own colour ribbon and face paint which together gives the side a multi-coloured effect. We perform a variety of dances; some include swords or brooms; almost all are unique to our group. We use many rarely heard local tunes or music written to suit a particular dance.

Redcar Sword Dancers were established in 1967 to revive the Greatham Sword Dance and Play and they continue to perform in Greatham on Boxing Day. The Greatham tradition is unique not only because it is the sole surviving example of a Longsword dance from north of the River Tees, but it is the only sword dance tradition still retaining its associated play. Redcar Sword also perform their own dances “Eston” and “California”, with figures based on those from the ironstone mining areas of Cleveland and some of their own devising, and “Ayton” a five man longsword dance.