The Modern Tradition
Molly dancing was revived by the Cambridge Morris Men in 1977 to coincide with the revival of the Balsham Ploughboys. The Cambridge Men still dance Molly during the day on Plough Monday. The Morris dance revival of the 1970s led to the creation of many new sides, which nowadays usually involve both men and women.
In recent years, Molly Dancing has enjoyed a popular revival both in East Anglia and further afield; one of the best-known teams being the Ouse Washes Molly Dancers. The largest regular assemblage of Molly Dancers is at the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival, established 1980, which is held in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, every January.
Modern Molly Dancing demonstrates the clearest distinction between "re-enactment of tradition" and "modern interpretation of tradition" of modern morris dancing. Elaine Bradtke wrote a PhD thesis on the inherent post-modernism of the Seven Champions, one of the first and best examples of Modern Molly dance. Many other teams have developed Molly, inspired by the unhistorical but very effective military formations of Seven Champions (e.g. Ouse Washes, Gog Magog, Handsome Molly in New Jersey) whilst others have taken it in new directions, equally unhistorical but at their best equally effective in very different ways; e.g. Norwich Shitwitches (now renamed Kit Witches), Pig Dyke Molly.
To this day Deptford Fowlers' Troop perform molly dances, as well as parading Jack in the Green. They take their name from a century-old Troop depicted in a photograph of 1906.
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