My style of performing with the Morris dancers relies on simple tricks presented in a way which encourages the audience to ‘play along’ and cheer ironically. All terribly post modern, you know.
Anyway, I was having a bit of a practice today and developed this silly little trick…
Start by idling one footed with the other foot on the fork crown.
As the wheel rolls forwards and the uni leans back, throw the ‘free’ leg up and out straight and clap your hands under your thigh, then return the ‘free’ foot to the fork crown on the ‘back stroke’ of the idle.
It’s the sort of throwaway trick that might work with a small audience, or ‘one to one’.
The trick is quite easy, if you can already idle one footed. Doing it on consecutive idles (i.e. clapping on each forward stroke and returning your foot to the fork crown on each back stroke) is a little harder. My best score was 10 in a row.
In life, silly is frequently the most important thing going. A contest for the silliest trick at a meet would be a good one. But then it would be a contest and no longer purely silly.
You could silly up the “contest” by not picking a winner. Or by having the “judges” not pay attention but still pick a winner. (the winner would, of course, be overwhelmed with emotion nonetheless)
(I couldn’t let a silliness discussion go by without responding…)
Or the judges could hold up score cards. Every card would have the same number printed on it -and the judges could frantically dig through their deck for the ‘correct’ score card.
> My style of performing with the Morris dancers relies on simple tricks
> presented in a way which encourages the audience to ‘play along’ and
> cheer ironically. All terribly post modern, you know.
Mike, have you tried the " picking your nose under your leg while one
foot idleing" trick? Its kind of a variation on your clapping trick, but a
bit more gross to appeal to the kids in the crowd.
I’d hate to imagine the pile you’d end up in if it went wrong… people advise against riding with hands in pockets, but an arm under the leg and a finger up the nose? Painful…
