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This page contains items of interest to current and potential members of Jack Frost, other morris dancers, and people interested in morris dancing.
The history of Jack Frost
The history of Jack Frost
Jack Frost was officially founded on May Day 2002. In 2009 an undated document was found in the Jack Frost archives; it appeared to be the long-lost minutes from the very first Jack Frost meeting, predating even the adoption of the name. The first motion to be passed is minuted rather curtly, but there is no mistaking the weighty import of this brief note:
History in the making. The minutes further record that this motion was proposed by Bea, seconded by Anni, supported by six and opposed by none.
The full scan of the minutes (including other suggested names for the side) is available in the "Photos" section of this website.
The origins of morris dancing
The origins of morris dancing
At public dance-outs, morris dancers are often questioned by curious spectators as to the origins of morris dancing. So it's wise to learn at least one Origin of the Morris, and preferably several to suit different occasions and inquirers. This page provides an ample fund of Morris Origin Myths – sorry, I mean historically accurate origins of the Morris. It's probably at least as reliable as Wikipedia, anyhow. Many of us believe morris began as a way for a bunch of like-minded people to get thirsty enough to go for a beer...
The Jack Frost Tune-Book
The Jack Frost Tune-Book
The Tune-Book contains transcriptions of the songs and tunes used for our core dances, along with a few helpful notes. The latest version is available for download as a PDF: click here.
A cheat-sheet to our 2017 dances (some without tunes in the tune-book) is here.
Morris dancing in New Zealand
Morris dancing in New Zealand
http://morrisdancing.org.nz/ is an online community for New Zealand morris dancers run by David Barnes.
Morris dancing worldwide
Morris dancing worldwide
The Morris Dancing Wiki is a fine resource for morris dancers the world over! And Jeff Bigler hosts a list of morris and sword sides with contact information. Or look at this handy map.
Mummers’ plays
Mummers’ plays
We occasionally perform mummers’ plays as well as morris dancing. Here is the text of our most usually performed one, from the University of Sheffield's excellent Folk Play Research Group page.
Thong Books for Things
Allied to, but not wholly congruent with, Jack Frost Morris, is Jack Frost Sings. You can ask to join us if you are in Dunedin, NZ. We tend to sing the way we dance, not entirely according to tradition, often locally embellished, sometimes badly (Badby), parodic and sometimes coarse or vulgar. We are developing song books. They contain material for which we do not have the copyright, in some cases, so the songs are as heard/remembered and attributed to original authors - to the best of our efforts. So far we have: Thong Book for Things: Vol 1 Less traditional... Vol 2 More traditional.
Mumming at the Dunedin Steiner School fair
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