Stave dancing

Stave dancing is a style of folk dance from the south-west of England, especially Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire. Teams of dancers carry long decorated poles, known as staves, over their shoulders whilst performing. Having effectively died-out in the 1920s, interest in the style revived in the 1980s, and today a number of Morris and country dancing teams perpetuate the tradition. Some claim the tradition's origins lie in the annual ‘club-walks’ of the friendly societies.

Stave dances are, essentially, English country dances adapted to have dancers perform whilst carrying a stave over their right shoulder. They are performed by mixed groups of dancers, organised into sets of four, six, eight, or more who perform figures to the accompaniment of traditional country dance tunes. The steps are similar to those used in some Morris and country dances including double-stepping, a travelling ‘ranting’ or ‘polka’ step, and a country dance ‘chasing’ step - also known as a 'Dorset skip-change' step. Whilst the staves are mainly carried on the shoulder, some dances require the dancers to form arches or other figures. Few original dances are known—most of those now performed originate from a small group of villages in Somerset and Dorset—notably Stourton Caundle and Fifehead Magdalen although many new dances have been choreographed within the style.

It is claimed that dancing staves evolved from the staves carried by friendly society stewards and some members on formal occasions. These, in turn, replicated the civic staves that civic dignitaries had carried for centuries. Modern dancing staves consist of a wooden pole, typically four to six feet in length, topped with an emblem of either wood or brass and often decorated with ribbons. Although colours varied, blue was a common friendly society livery. Each society had its own dress code so one can only generalize. Most societies required all their members to be “decently dressed”, especially on club walks. This usually meant that everyone turned out in their “Sunday best”. For the stewards, black coats were invariably the order, often tail coats. A blue sash was also common for stewards. One society prescribed that stewards must wear white moleskin trousers, whilst another specifically banned smocks.

For many years he strove to see the tradition become accepted as a bona fide style of English folk-dance and to encourage its performance through a series of workshops and lectures. Today, variations of Dommett’s dances, together with many new dances created within the tradition, are performed by a small number of Morris dancing teams across the south-west of England including Somerset Morris, Fleur-de-Lys Morris and Bradninch Millers.