Molly Team 'The Harpies'

Read a little about molly dancing by Bob Dupré. Sue Dupré, a well-regarded contra dance caller, molly dancer, and composer of molly dances, has been instrumental in helping the Harpies to get off the ground.

Sharon Green, a member of the Harpies, has written in the Fall '98 issue of Stepnotes, a publication of Country Dance New York, --

Inspired by a workshop on Molly dancing led by Sue Dupré this summer, Sally Denmead, Karen Geer, and Sharon Green have banded together to establish a new ritual team.

Molly dancing, the local name in East Anglia for morris dancing, has been a tradition in Cambridge for well over one hundred years. It is associated with the annual Plough Monday ritual, during which young farmhands would drag a plough round the local villages, crying 'A penny for the plough boys,' and, if no penny was forthcoming, cut a furrow across the cheapskate's front lawn. As one would expect of such a 'trick-or-treat' event, the Plough Monday processional customarily took place after dark. However, during the daytime lcoal Molly dancers would tour the region, performing the local social dances on the street in somewhat rough and ready style.

Plough Monday ... Homeowners, guard your lawns!