UNITED KINGDOM: Pig Dyke Molly: The World's weirdest Folk Dancers!

Pig Dyke Molly has to be one of the most extraordinary looking and sounding folk group and dancers in the World. They are perhaps best described as a 70's glam rockers without any electricity. They perform their music with just acoustic melodeon, tuba and simple percussion. Molly dancing is from the Fens and it is thought to originate from the middle ages. Ordinary people who worked on the land would dress up in exotic clothes, paint their faces and go out in the dark to dance for money; in essence at the time a form of begging. Molly dancing, in its simplest terms, is the Fenland version of Morris dancing. Except there are no bells, no hankies, no sticks, and no ridiculous hats. It's associated with Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, in early January, for all of you not attuned to the Christian calendar. The tradition died out in the 1930s, but was resurrected about 20 years ago. Less is known about molly dancing than almost any other form of English ritual/performance dance. Dancers wore blackface as a form of anonymity. Unlike Morris dancing, molly dancing is generally recognized to have been done at first by men only; indeed Molly means 'a man dressed as a woman'. But except for some scanty pages of notes, historians don't really know much more about the dances. Pig Dyke Molly have brought Molly dancing into the 21st century with their own distinctive black and white costumes and makeup which distinguishes them from other groups. Even glam rock legends Kiss might reject their look as too gaudy, despite similarities between the two group's distinctive makeup. It takes about half an hour to complete each dancer's water based paint makeup, then the look is completed with the striking costumes and wigs, plus the occasional prop. Their music is more modern than traditional Morris dancing and their dances much livelier. Each dance lasts for about 3 minutes and has its own theme and name such as 'Plug holes', or 'the Broom dance', although they aren't tied down by too many other rules. "We made the occasional mistake, it wouldn't be us if we didn't but that's all part of it and it was good," said performer, Tony Forster at a recent performance. Nor is the dancing resticted to the performers in the group, with the audience encouraged to participate, although many feel comfortable remaining as spectators. "Very unusual," said one onlooker. "I've seen Morris Dancing before but I've never actually seen these dancers, that's what brought us here actually, I saw it advertised in the paper and I wanted to see what Molly dancers look like," she added. Pig Dyke Molly has been together for about 15 years, and intends to be around for many more to come. A quirky story.

ITN Source | October 29, 2005

Tags:. .tradition. .legends. .hats. .theme. .folk