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Morris dancing for the Olympics?

Yesterday's BBC Political News site featured a story about a member of Parliament who suggested that morris dancing should be part of the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics, to be held in England.

Every Olympic city stamps its own identity on the opening ceremony, displaying its culture to an audience of billions.

The Barcelona games got under way to the sight of massed flamenco dancers, while Athens had running Greek statues and gyrating "goddesses" holding snakes.

A Liberal Democrat peer is calling for London to follow suit in 2012 with the nearest English equivalent: Morris dancing.

Groups of people jumping around with sticks or handkerchiefs in hand are laughable to some, but Lord Redesdale thinks they could be a great advert for UK tourism.

He told the BBC News website: "There are 14,000 Morris dancers in this country and they should be represented in the ceremony.

"People come from around the world to see our traditions, so we should show them off whenever we get the chance.

"How many people do beach volleyball in the UK? They get Horseguards Parade to show off their skills.

"I'm not suggesting making Morris a sport, but let's at least give it a role."

Morris dancing has rather vague origins. Some say it derives from pre-Christian fertility rites, others that it is from the French Moresque or the Spanish Morisca dances of the late 15th and early 16th Centuries.

Northern England has complex sword dances from mining villages, and clog dancers with small gardens on their hats.

The familiar hanky-waving, stick-clashing tradition comes from the Cotswolds and in East Anglia and the Welsh border region, dancers blacken their faces.

Lord Redesdale, a Lib Dem energy spokesman, said: "Morris dancers are discriminated against. A lot of people like to take the mickey, but it brings people a lot of enjoyment.

"All Olympic opening ceremonies show off the cultural activities of the country, so why should London 2012 be any different?

"I think having all 14,000 Morris dancers in the stadium at the same time would be a great idea."

The English "Olympick Games" - or Cotswold Games - which pre-dated the modern Olympics by around 300 years, featured such sports as shin-kicking and cudgel-play.

Morris dancing was an integral part of their opening ceremonies.

So, could clogs, hankies, sticks and bells make a comeback, becoming as much a part of London 2012 as lycra and isotonic sports drinks?

The event's organisers have promised to use the "full creative talents of Britain's spectacular world-class directors and artists, technicians and performers will be used to fill the Olympic Stadium with magic, wit and wonder".

Asked a question by Lord Redesdale, government spokesman Lord Davies of Oldham told the House of Lords that Morris dancing had a "very high cultural value".

But the contents of the Olympic opening ceremony were not yet decided, he added.