The woman who saved Morris Dancing from extinction

The quirky English folk tradition had almost vanished when Mary Neal sparked a revival among working class girls in a bid to improve their lives. But despite her success, the Suffragette pioneer was ousted by a male rival and erased from history

- Peter Sheridan

A SUN-DAPPLED village fair. Children gaily spinning around a maypole. Cricketers on the village green. Few things evoke the splendour and tradition of an English summer so perfectly. And then come the Morris dancers, a quintessentially English tradition, as much mocked as they are loved.

Clad in white, with snowy handkerchiefs flying and silver ankle bells jangling, the fleet-footed dancers evoke a tradition that dates back to the 15th century.

They're not everyone's cup of tea, admittedly.

"Try everything once- except incest and Morris dancing," goes the old saying.

Yet Morris dancing is enjoying a surprising revival. More than 800 troupes perform across England with an estimated 13,600 dancers, and the traditional steps are now being mingled with influences from hip-hop to ballet, as a new generation breathes fresh energy into the art.

For more than 500 years, men across England have danced wielding swords, staves and kerchiefs, following in the highstepping footsteps of an ancient heritage.

But a new book reveals that Morris dancing was almost extinct by the dawn of the last century, poised to vanish from England's green and pleasant land.

Though historically performed exclusively by men, Morris dancing surprisingly owes its survival and revival to the efforts of a group of working-class London girls, inspired by a leading Suffragette, Mary Neal, who has been cruelly forgotten and robbed of recognition until now.

"Mary Neal saved Morris dancing from oblivion," says historian Kathryn Atherton.

"It would be extinct, remembered only in history books and academic journals if she hadn't stepped in to revive the dance.