Chabot Spectator

Issue date: 3/22/07 Section: In Focus

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy of The Deer Creek Morris Men A few of the Deer Creek Morris Men perform their medieval folk dance, while spectators watch admiring.

Two Chabot College math instructors, Dave Fouquet and Ming Ho, perform in a very old, traditional dance called morris.

Morris dancing is an ancient tradition of dance and music that comes from the Cotswold region of England. Existing records say that the morris dance dates back to 1448, but the origins of the name are uncertain.

According to Wikipedia, one of the most widely accepted theories is that the term was "moorish dance," "morisques" (in France), "moriskentanz" (in Germany), "moreška" (in Croatia), and "moresco" (in Italy and Spain), which eventually became "morris dance."

The dance is performed by groups, otherwise referred to as teams or sides, as part of a ritual to shake off the dark and gloom of winter. Armed with sticks, ribbons, bells, hankies, and baldrics, the dancers celebrate the coming of a warm and fertile spring.

Fouquet stated in an e-mail, "I am a primary musician for a local side, Deer Creek Morris Men (primarily a men's side). My colleague and fellow math instructor Ming Ho is also a member of the side."

Ho said, "I actually started relatively recently, in 2005. Dave Fouquet got me interested. I never had dance experience as a kid. My first dance experience was tap dancing for PE in graduate school in Berkeley. After that I had some lessons in a studio for about nine months."

Ho continued on to relay some information of some upcoming events, "The California Ale is a gathering of morris dancers, this year we will tour San Francisco on April 14. Beer goes along with morris dancing, it's an English tradition."

"On May Day there are a number of groups that dance at sunrise. It's symbolic of the season."

If anyone would like more information about the California Ale, he or she may visit the Web site http://www.berkeley-morris.org/ale. For more information about the Morris on May Day celebration, please visit the Web site http://www.bacds.org/mayday.

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