Morris dancers set to appear at top international festival

The Saddleworth Women's Morris and Clog team

A women's morris dance team, which is only just over a year old, have been invited to share top international billing at a festival in Barcelona.

Saddleworth Woman's Morris and Clog will appear at the La Mercè Festival with Global Grooves this September, dancing alongside The Indian Association Oldham’s Dancing Diyas.

It will be a unique fusion of cultures, morris-meets-indian folk dance, performing a newly-composed piece, which has been jointly choreographed for the festival; accompanied by spectacular sculptures with live processional music.

Ed Worrall, the side’s dance development ent officer and treasurer, said: "We are very honoured to be taking part in the La Merce festival in Barcelona, as part of their cultural exchange with Manchester as this year's guest city.

“We will be performing a specially commissioned dance piece in collaboration with the Indian Dance Association, fusing traditional Northwest Morris dancing and Indian Folk dancing.

“This element of the exchange is being curated by Global Grooves, a leading organisation in carnival arts and street performance in the UK, who have been brilliant to work with.

“It's been an amazing experience to collaborate with the Indian Association dancers, and for both groups to share our folk dance heritage, in creating a new dance to be performed especially for the festival.

“It's wonderful for us as a team to be representing Saddleworth and the Morris dancing tradition of the north west alongside our friends in the Indian Association."

Manchester's role as guest city at this year’s six-day cultural festival attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors into the city showcasing the very best of traditional Catalan culture, outdoor arts, and music.

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