Workshops

Pre-Ale workshops in the month of May: 

Knit a Morris Mouse. Calling all knitters! This workshop will meet throughout the month of May. Get the pattern and your yarn and prepare to cast on May 8.

May Jig Festival!

 

Workshops during the 2021 Ale: 

🔴 indicates that this Zoom session will be recorded

Dance workshops

Morris HIIT Workout. 
Are you ready to come out of this Pandemic in Morris shape? Then bring your spandex, water bottle, and can-do attitude to this High Intensity (Morris) Interval Training! (The “M” is silent… just like your bells.) Leif Petersen of MTM will be leading a workout session that has been proven effective to increase the beer drinking of MTM. High-energy Morris workout music will be provided live by Gary Schulte.

Waltz Clogs
This will be geared to dancers who can already shuffle, and variations are available for both more and less experienced dancers. Laura can provide notation for any workshop participants who are interested. No need for clogs. Any hard sole shoe that can make a sound on any surface will work. To watch a video of the steps that will be covered on Sunday, click here.

Ministry of Silly Walks
 Before every practice or dance out, do you warm up? Warming up before physical exercise, such as Morris dancing, helps prevent injuries and makes you a better dancer. Join Matt Tillotson of The Braggarts in their highly prized dynamic stretching routine… which really just looks like a bunch of silly walks. 
Please prepare by bringing props: including a 5 foot and 2 foot 3/4 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe, but a broom handle will also work. The only other thing needed is space to walk around and room to flail your arms.

Music and song workshops

Melodeon Techniques 🔴
Go through the looking-glass and explore the upside-down world of minor keys on the D/G melodeon with Jonathan Whitall of Pullman Morris and Sword and Braintrust Morris. Like last year’s workshop, participants should expect to plumb the depths of one tune, talking about technique, ornamentation and just enough music theory to keep it spicy, allowing for further minor-key adventures. This year’s tune is The Cuckoo’s Nest. Materials will be posted ahead of time. The Cuckoo’s Nest (simple version), The Cuckoo’s Nest (advanced version) Watch recording.

Singing for Molly Dancing 🔴 
In this workshop you will be exploring techniques and philosophies for impactful accompaniment to Molly dancing, without blowing out your voice, in both practice and performance. Workshop lead by Corey O’Sullivan-Bauser.
Workshop Resources: Katy Cruel Annotated 1, Katy Cruel Annotated 2, Katy Cruel Annotated 3, How to Sing Loud Watch recording.

Modern Molly: Adapting Pop Songs for Molly Dancing 🔴
Do you ever hear a song on the radio and think, “That would make a great Molly dance?” In this workshop, Corey invites you to come along with her and her process from that moment, through arranging the music for dance, and choreographing a Molly dance. Workshop links: dance demo 1, dance demo2,  lyrics, presentation, and resources
Workshop lead by Corey O’Sullivan-Bauser. Watch recording.

Sing Together with Jamulus
Jamulus will allow us to sing together in real time! This program sends your audio to a server and back to you with low latency. We will start off the session in a zoom room on Saturday at 4:30 pm CDT, where we can meet and greet everyone, then switch over to using Jamulus to sing. To participate, please prepare for the workshop ahead of time and install Jamulus by following these instructions.

Craft and fun workshops

Knit Tog
Calling all knitters and crafters! Bring your current project and sit down to chat with all the other Morris knitters and crafters. Ellen Dorfman will be hosting. 

Mummer’s Play Workshop for Skit Night
Didn’t get a slot on the Skit Night schedule but still hankering to perform? Take part in this “Cut-and-Paste” Mummers’ Play.  A selection of traditional Mummers’ rhymes will be supplied to the participants, who will choose the characters and rhymes they like and assemble them into a play (“Take one from column A and two from column B”). This will then be showcased during Skit Night. Costumes encouraged. We will also show you how to make a traditional mummer’s headdress to wear on skit night. You will need poster board, news- or wrapping paper, scissors, and a stapler.  The rhymes are available in advance here.

Whiskey/Beverage Tasting
Combo! Beverage tasting. Open to anything fermented or distilled. Participants may ‘share’ their favorite beer, scotch, kombucha.. etc. Hosted by Kurt MacNamara. 
*Participants of this workshop must comply with local alcohol laws. 

All Things Marvel 
Morris dancers, assemble! Join us for an open discussion on all things Marvel – Movies, TV, Comics, Games, the Multi-verse! Discussion lead by Mariadina DiGenario.

Dungeons & Dragons Campaign

For anyone who would like to play. Two sessions: Friday night 8 to 11 pm CDT and Sunday afternoon 3-6 pm CDT. This mini campaign will feature the Hawaiian deities, an exploration of who they are, and the temper each one has.

Community Conversation

Team Archives and Histories
There are lots of good reasons to cultivate your team’s archives and document its history. For example: To have photos and details available for your website or to give to a local journalist who wants to write an article; to help new and prospective members understand what your team is all about; to document what dances you have had in your repertoire and how you did them; to weave into the history of your community; to be used by unknown future researchers…to name just a few. And now is a great time to do it – for long-standing teams, many of your original and early members are still active and in possession of their memories; for newer teams, you will have it easier because you can set up a convenient process to document your history as it’s happening!
 
This Conversation will kick off an ongoing effort within the MWMA to share experiences, best practices, and encouragement for teams who want to start or continue working on their histories/archives. We will hear from teams who have already made a start, and from our librarian experts who are planning infrastructure to make our digital archives accessible to the world, as well as to write up histories in a consistent format. We will start collecting questions and needs from the participants (What should we keep? Where should we keep it? How should we organize it? What should we try to collect?), building lists of resources, and planning how we will stay in touch and move this effort forward in the coming years.
 
Has your team done any work on yours? If so, we’d love to have you give a brief show-and-tell. It doesn’t have to be finished or polished! If you’d be willing to talk for a few minutes at the workshop, please contact Carol Mohr ASAP!

 

Panel Discussion: Gender and Morris Dancing 🔴

How do we think about gender when we think about Morris dancing? What is the origin behind single-gender teams or mixed-gender teams? Does dancing with one kind of team or another make us dance differently?

Join us for a panel discussion about gender and Morris dancing. This is the third installment in our series of panel discussions about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Morris dancing.

MODERATOR: Sam Kleinman (he/him)
PANELISTS: Denise Kania (she/her), Megg (they/she), Marc Scovill (he/him) 

For panelist bios, and more information about our series of DEI panel discussions, click HERE. Watch recording.

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More workshop descriptions coming soon!

Workshops and Presentations: We are seeking community members with a talent or skill who would like to teach a workshop in zoom format. Examples of past interactive workshops over zoom have included Morris jigs, other kinds of dancing, musician’s workshops, vocal performance technique, history presentations, and many others.
What’s your area of expertise? Please tell us about an interactive workshop you would like to teach, or a presentation you would like to give. Sign up here.

Community Discussions can engage folks across different locations and help expand understanding, knowledge, or repertoire of certain Morris-related topics. Potential topics for Community Discussions include:

  • How does your team recruit new members?
  • Documenting tunes and traditions
  • Does your team have a presence on social media?

What are the things important to you to discuss with others in the Morris community? Would you like to lead (or co-lead) a Community Discussion? Sign up here.

Virtual Events Recording Policy

When attending a Midwest Morris Ale virtual event, only designated sessions will be recorded. Those recordings will be made available to the public via the MWMA YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/c/MidwestMorrisAle. Virtual events have been crafted to provide a safe environment for people to participate. The Virtual Events Committee has found that when recording virtual sessions, participants are less likely to participate with videos on, or show up to sessions, knowing that recordings will be made available to the public. The events that will be recorded and made available will be chosen based on the content and how it furthers the mission statement of the Midwest Morris Ale.