Jackstraws - how to spot us
Traditions
Jackstraws perform dances from the Cotswold traditions and some that have been invented or developed by members of the side.
This season (2009-2010) we will be performing dances from, or in the style of, Fieldtown, Headington and Bloxham, and the Upton-upon-Severn Stick Dance
The side also has its own Traditions - things that we always do during the season, or during each practice. Such as.....
- We have an Annual Meal every year - in November or December
- We dance at a local pub on Boxing Day, after which a Mummers' Play is often performed
- We have a "Christmas Party" every January
- Some members of the side participate in a narrowboat holiday sometime around Easter
- We have been known to dance out at dawn on May Morning (1st May)
On occasions Daisy, a cow, appears with Jackstraws.
Daisy was specially made in 1987, our 10th Anniversary year. She is a papier mache carnival head with a brown spotted cloth for a body.
She used to have a shy and retiring personality which kept her on the side-lines, entertaining the children in the audience, but since appearing at the Warwick Folk Festival in 2007, she has been an outrageous scene-stealer.
Kit (up to 2004)
A white, hand made smock with green smocking based on a traditional Surrey smock design. Jackstraws was one of the first revival womens' teams to wear trousers (in 1977!). The kit was completed with a green neckerchief, white shoes, bell pads with green and white ribbons and a white hat decorated with flowers
Kit (from 2005)
We changed our kit in 2005 to something more modern. The new kit retains the same colours as the old kit (i.e. green and
white), but instead of smocks we wear loose white shirts, with ribbons attached at the shoulders, and we have given up the flowered hats
.
Version 3.0 - 23 July, 2010