Old-country tradition kept alive

FALLS VILLAGE — The Morris Dancers brought their annual burst of color and sound to the Northwest Corner on Saturday, June 11. This year’s visit was, perhaps, even more of a respite from regular life than usual, as it came while many area residents struggled with a multi-day power outage caused by a potent thunderstorm the previous Thursday. The weather was only moderately more mild on Saturday, when eight companies of Morris Dancers from New York state, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., performed in North Canaan, West Cornwall, Sharon and Salisbury. They also danced in Norfolk and five nearby Massachusetts towns.This particular tour only features male dancers; some women came along Saturday as well and provided the musical accompaniment to the traditional English folk dances. One of the dancers said it rained so much at some of their stops that “It felt like we were swimming, not dancing.”But a little rain has never slowed down these devotees of the traditional dances, in which a half dozen or more men leap, step, whirl and clack wooden sticks. They wear bells on their legs and colorful hats, vests and other garb that distinguishes their company from other companies.In fact, it almost seems that what the Morris Dancers are actually peforming is a type of rain dance. Nearly every year, when the various companies come together on Main Street in Falls Village for the finale, there is at least a light sprinkling of rain. Some years, the dancing has been delayed by black skies, booming thunder and crackling rays of lightning.This year, the traditional procession of the dancers down Main Street to the center of town was canceled by a 6 p.m. downpour. But the dancers took a break in the Senior Center upstairs from the former Town Hall space, then lined up and took turns dancing before a crowd that was devoted, delighted and, though not as large as usual, still fairly sizeable.