The American Travelling Morrice is comprised of morris dancers and musicians from across North America and abroad. We perform together for one week each year. Since 1976, the group has toured throughout the Northeastern United States, as well as California and England. See our Tours page to see where we’ve performed.
The first American Travelling Morrice (nicknamed “the ATM” long before automated banking) was the brainchild of several friends who danced on teams in New York and Boston during the 1970s. They patterned the group from the English “Travelling Morrice” which was established in 1924. The group has grown to include performers from across the nation and even some from England and Canada. While these folks perform regularly with hometown teams, they come together for one week each year to form the American Travelling Morrice. Every year since 1976 (save the pandemic), the group has toured throughout New England, the mid-Atlantic, California, and Canada, with appearances at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY; Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY; Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington, DC; Faneuil Hall in Boston, MA; Grand Central Terminal in New York, NY; and Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, UK, among others. In 2006, 2013 and 2018, the group traveled to England and performed in the Cotswolds, the Lake District, and Yorkshire.
A morris “stand” is simply a location — a library, street fair, farmer’s market, retirement home, frequently outside a pub, etc. — a location that becomes a colorful spectacle indeed. The dancers, with small bells strapped to their legs, leap through complex figures accompanied by the music of the accordion, fiddle, or the ancient pipe and tabor. Often directing the proceedings with comical grace is the all-licensed Fool, whose antics amuse the onlookers and harass the dancers.
We dance the Morris because we enjoy it, and clearly people enjoy watching it. Morris dancing evokes the community life of the village green, the marketplace and the pub; it echoes the turning of the seasons and celebrates the joy of movement and life. It has always been said that the Morris brings great good luck and prosperity wherever it is danced.