Live Entertainment: Morris dancing

There is something impenetrably mysterious about Morris dancing. No one quite seems to know how it started, and the way it has finished up offers few clues. Sometimes men try to hit each other with sticks, for instance, but other times they wave hankies gaily. What's all that about?

Perhaps it's best not to think too much about it and, as far as the pub trade's concerned, rest easy in the knowledge that whatever Morris dancers get up to, they do it while drinking lots of beer.

There is a great affinity between Morris and pubs. So great, in fact, that the 2003 Licensing Act includes a special clause that allows licensees to stage Morris dancing as an entertainment without having to include it in their operating schedule.

You might wonder what sinister hold this obscure fraternity has over our government. Or, like many, you might embrace a piece of good fortune and welcome a 'side' - as Morris teams are called - at your pub.

You have plenty to choose from. There are an estimated 1,000 sides, each with their own

costumes and dance repertoires. Quite often they will come to you and ask if they can dance for a round of beers, or you can get in touch with a local group through the online 'Sidefinder'.

Sussex seems to be something of a hotspot. For the last 20 years brewer Harveys of Lewes has launched its seasonal ale Knots of May - named after a local women's Morris side - with a mass dance, and it's the county where you'll find one of the country's biggest sides, Sompting Village Morris, who put in weekly performances at pubs during the dancing 'season', from May to October.

"It brings a bit of colour and pubs find it attracts extra customers - all of us, for a start!" says Don Terry, the side's 'squire' or captain.

Keith Roberts, licensee of the Buckingham Arms in Shoreham-by-Sea, where they found themselves last week, agrees. "It's good fun. The customers enjoy it, they join in. And all they ask for is a bucket of beer," he says.

With Sompting Morris you actually get two different lots of dancers - the men and the women - and when it gets too dark for waving sticks about safely they'll go inside for a spontaneous 'singaround'.

For more information on Morris dancing go to www.morrisfed.org.uk where you'll also find a link to the Sidefinder.