Contact Us

Come watch us dance or join us

Catch us 4 times a day most weekends at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, or Tuesday evening practice at the Tapestry Folk Dance Center. We're always looking for new knees, so experienced dancers are welcome. Apprentice classes are taught starting in January. Contact the Foreman for details.

Hire us to dance at your event

Contact the Squire for price and availability.

 

Officers and Supernumerary

The Squire
He calls the shots and heards the cats.
Email the Squire,

The Foreman
For the first time since it's inception MTM has a new foreman in Temple. Ed isn't putting his bells away but he wanted to pass the baton before they turned green. So, in a fit of agreement we elected Temple in November 2008. We expect things to change in rehearsal but there is one thing of which we're certain. The quality of dance and showmanship for which MTM is known will remain the same. Temple will see to that. Don't tell Temple he signed on for a 30 year term. Email the Foreman

The Bagman
The Bagman, or "Bag", is the team treasurer. Money in and money out, it all passes through the bag, a somewhat cooler version of the time-honored cigar box.
Email the Bagman

The Ragman
The Ragman, or "Rag", is the Morris team's equipment manager. He makes sure the team has hankies, kits, practice and performance sticks. If it's a thing owned by the team, he is its master. A true Lord of the Things.
Email the Ragman

Festivus (Renaissance Festival Coordinator)
Derek does what only Derek can do. He's our liaison to Mid-America Festivals owner of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. A true Renaissance Man. We love him like the Brother that he is.
Email the Festivus

The Fool
Traditionally, the fool is extravagantly dressed, communicates directly with the audience, and will dance around and even through a dance without appearing really to be a part of it, but it takes a talented dancer to pull off such fooling while actually adding to and not distracting from the main dance set.

Hobby Horse
The Magister equitum in English Master of the Horse, the Hobby is a costumed character associated with May Day celebrations, Mummers Plays and the Morris dance in England.

Betty
The Betty, a man dressed in women's clothing, is less frequently encountered but thought by some to be an ancient fertility symbol.

Webmaster
Craig has revamped Bill Way's visionary web site with cascading stylesheets, Spry menus, Dreamweaver templates for site-wide updates, and a rational naming hierarchy for maintainability.
Email the Webmaster

Founder
There is only one founder. There is only one Ed. He lives for folk dancing.
He is the keeper of the faith.
Email the Founder.

Ed offers us some quotes from traditional Morris dancers.

They capered as high off the ground as that table, always as high as they could. Then the sweat ran down their faces.
- Mr. Franklin, Field Town

 

In jumping, start off both feet and keep them touching side by side when they come to the ground.
- Mr. Harry Taylor, Longborough

 

Above all, the performers must be infected with the true spirit of the dance. The Morris is something more than a severe, cold, unemotional dance, even if it cannot justly be called a merry, exuberant one. The movements, though forceful, masculine and strong, must nevertheless be easily and gracefully executed, with restraint, too, and dignity, and even solemnity at times. The ability to do this is not easily acquired. Grace and strength are qualities not usually associate together, nor easily combined in the proper proportion. The dancer must have complete control over his limbs, and attain a balance and supple poise of body which the tyro cannot expect to acquire until, after prolonged practice, the coordinated movements of arms, body and feet have become automatic.
- Cecil Sharp in "The Morris Book, Part I," published in 1912, pages 43-44.