Mr Fox's Reviews

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Hallowe'en Festival Review 2003

Most of the lights go down; out come two young lovers, dressed as foxes, carrying burning torches! Slowly the pace of their dance hots up, as do their passions and torches as they dance faster and faster. To the sound of a drum we are told to follow the Fox. Out in the cold night air, there is a theatre awaiting us, as we are led by still more flaming banners, drums and torches to the green. And there the story of Mr James Fox and family unfolds a story of love, leadership, cruelty and new beginnings. When I entered The Halloween Festival this morning it was of course light, now it was dark. The fiery torches, the drums, red flares and the fast moving dancers - I can’t till you what an adrenaline rush it was. Suddenly it was over, the torches were extinguished, one last exposition, and the Foxes ran off into the night. We were left standing there in shock! What a day! The best Jeanette has ever organised! Can’t wait for tomorrow.

http://www.paganfestivals.fsnet.co.uk/paganfestivals.fsnet.co.uk/services.htm

Shire Folk reviews Warwick 1999
by Jed Mugford:

Over twenty dance sides were invited to perform including Seven Champions, Touchwood Appalachian and Mortimers, a ladies North West side from Nottingham who dance to mainly French tunes. Their music supplied by a mean bunch of musicians in dark shades and black suits, who looked more like refugees from The Godfather than a morris side. Mr Fox performed a haunting folklore tale, late on Saturday night in the arena. The only light was supplied by flaming torches casting ghostly shadows from the performers who all wore foxes masks and black cloaks. Spooky!

www.warkfolk.demon.co.uk/shirefolk99.htm

Lines!
by Banbury Bill

Your starter motor for 2000

ACTUALLY, I can offer one other name for a millennium dance; one that may appeal to those with fond memories of a motor car produced only a mile or so from Headington Quarry.

Ladies and gentlemen, we present.... The Morris 2000.

Well, it's about time we had a gleaming new pun to replace the somewhat rusty one about young dancers being "morris minors".

But it strikes me this is too grand a name for a mere dance; rather, it should be applied to a new style of morris altogether.

I'm no expert on these things, but I believe there hasn't been a completely new kind of ceremonial dance in the traditional idiom for more than a hundred years.

And yet, it seems to me, the morris has entered a new era of confidence in the past decade, with people trying all sorts of clever ideas (some of them too clever, I fear). But these new ideas are generally only small departures from the tradition. No one's quite had the nerve to present something utterly, brazenly new.

Some teams have come close. The Outside Capering Crew has so altered the humble bacca pipes jig as to make it almost a dance form in its own right, and the Flag And Bone Gang has drawn much admiration for its work, derived from some obscure Yorkshire manuscript (or something like that).

But that's the point: both these examples are derived from existing forms.

It's possible The Incredible Mr Fox has come up with something truly original. I haven't seen this team, but I gather from its web site (also recommended reading) that its members dress up as foxes, dance about with fire, and let off pyrotechnics. I don't recall finding that one in the Black Book.

Maybe they've achieved it: a new dance for a new millennium. Otherwise, it looks like we'll have to fall back on The Seven Champions. Let's hope they can take our weight.

www.thedonkey.org/Lines/Lines301199.html

Beltane Bash Revue 2000
By Jeanette of Caduceus, Festival Director

Mr Fox -- Fire Dancers!!

The Mystery Guest

The mood changes here as the lights went down, our special mystery guests takes the stage, all masked and to the beat of a sinister drum they slowly appear from behind the curtain. The masks are of foxes, except the narrator who is a masked woman and begins to read a poem that tells of the foxes that dance in the dead of night, and how the young cubs must learn by play, the lessons of life. Here three young foxes begin to dance to the sound of a drum, then the vixen and her mate dance. We are then told by the narrator to "follow the fox", as the pack march out of the hall too much applause, but this is only the beginning not the end of the dance.

Everyone after much encouragement follows the fox, out of the hall and into the now gathering dusk. The foxes light burning brands on leaving the hall and march around the square leading a new parade into the park, red flashes light the night, the whole pack start to dance with the flaming torches. The leader of the pack comes to dance next and is challenged by the young blood looking to take his crown.

With this they disappear into the night to silence as the audience is stunned, by this tremendous display, after they catch their breath the audience and the people hanging from the windows break into a tumultuous applause.

www.paganfestivals.fsnet.co.uk/paganfestivals.fsnet.co.uk/products.htm

Received following the Whittlesey Straw Bear Festival:

Hi Mr Fox

Just thought I would let you know that when you attended the Straw Bear (Whittlesey) my family thought you were brilliant! A little scary and unsure of what would happen next but can't wait until next year, you will be attending won't you?

Deborah Gale
Whittlesey

Mr Fox replies: We shall be there!

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