Early August saw us off on another unusual escapade, even by our own usual high standards of unusuality. During the earlier part of the year, we had been working on developing a joint show along with our good friends The Outside Capering Crew, to be called ‘The Big Caper’, with a view to performing it in larger venues where we felt there would be a suitable audience and where the 2 sides together could sustain a longer show with more variety than either could manage on its own. The challenge was to find a blend of existing dances and routines from both repertoires that meant the sides could perform complementary and in some cases joint dances without losing their own individual identities. In August we had a chance to put it to the test, when The Big Caper went to Belgium to take part in the Ka-Dans Festival, a festival spread over several days based in and around the town and castle of Torhout, and featuring a number of different performances in a variety of settings from ourselves and other visiting sides from Mexico, Hungary, Argentina and a more local Walloon side.
Our performances started on the Friday evening (11th August) in the market place of Torhout, where The Big Caper waited patiently for their turn as the other visiting sides performed on the impressive outdoor stage. As we eventually took our place, down came the rain – which unfortunately was to be quite a feature of our whole trip despite it having been up to this point one of the hottest and driest summers on record. Sharp eyed readers of these Berkshire Bedlam news updates will no doubt at this point be saying “hang on a minute, this is Berkshire Bedlam, and it never rains on them” – which is still true, as remember we were performing as The Big Caper …… Despite the rain, we performed a short selection of our dances before retreating, like the local townsfolk, to the astounding choice of excellent bars all round the Market Square where we met up with our host families who would look after us superbly for the next few days.
On the Saturday we had a more formal welcome and opening ceremony, again in the Market Place, where we gave and received gifts and a welcome beer, and later performed a short set of dances. The next morning (Sunday) we were invited to attend the church ceremony in Wijnendale where each of the guest teams was asked to perform a suitable piece. For us, Lawrence played his fabulous waltz tune while some dancers performed a ‘ Rosa ’ style waltz at the front of the church, which turned out to be appropriately in keeping with the occasion.
After the morning church ceremony, the afternoon featured the main event of the week – the Ka-Dans Festival show, held in the grounds of the splendid Wijnendale Castle , with a large outdoor stage and spacious seating for the audience set underneath a huge overhanging canopy of trees. This show featured all of the international teams, including The Big Caper in a proper show setting for the first time. We put on a 40 minute performance, with some of the best dances from each of our 2 sides built into a complete and carefully sequenced show. We had also prepared a joint opening and ending, with the final dance in particular, done to the Crew’s 4-Up tune, featuring choreography put together specifically for the show including stick throwing around the Crew’s bacca pipe dancers, and 3 people (Jerry and Rob for BB, Tracey for the Crew) performing a spectacular leapfrog over everyone else to finish. We were very pleased with the overall effect, which seemed to go down well with the appreciative audience. It also provided a springboard for us to build on, as we were to do 3 more big shows over the next few days and with each one we learned a little more about what worked well.
But before any more performances, on the Monday morning we were free to enjoy a trip to Bruges . Well, I say enjoy, – normally Bruges is a fascinating city, full of dramatic and historic architecture, with its quaint canal system, and packed with interesting shops, cafes and bars. However, in the downpour which accompanied us this particular morning, it just looked – wet. Very wet. Very very wet. However by the evening we had dried off (just), ready for our next formal show, performing to a packed audience in the church at Wijnendale, where we had put together a different selection of dances since some of the audience had seen the previous day’s show. Once again this was very well received, with Simon P in particular working hard to establish a good rapport with the audience, including getting several members up on the stage to learn Shepherds Hey with us (a good chance for some of us to learn it too).
On Tuesday morning we again had some free time, and it rained. No surprises there then. It cleared briefly in the early afternoon, when we had been asked to visit another castle and dance while a long procession of vintage cars went by. We did manage some dancing before the cars arrived, but as the first one approached, so did the dark clouds. By now we were learning that once they get going, Belgian downpours are amongst the most prolific in the world, and would put most self respecting Amazonian rain forests to shame. So as the cars streamed by, in more senses than one, for the most part we could only stand and watch from under our temporary shelters. But it did clear a little later on, and most of BB were able to do a short set of dances outside the excellent café which raised the spirits if not all the clouds.
Wednesday was the last formal day of the Festival. In the afternoon, we performed another successful show to some of the older citizens of the area. And then in the evening we had been asked at short notice to take part with the Argentinians in a show at De Panne, some 50 miles away at the coast, in a beautifully appointed theatre in the modern civic centre. The theatre was packed, with the audience spilling out into the aisles and through the doors, possibly related to the fact that entry was free. The Argentinian side was on first, and performed an excellent set (not at all a load of bolas), but despite them being a tough act to follow we felt we rose to the occasion accordingly. We had put together an hour’s show, the longest we had done, and for many people it turned out to be the highlight of our trip. By now we were all used to the format, our changeovers were getting slick, we were well rehearsed and our confidence was rising. This in turn was being reflected in the warm appreciation we were getting from the audience who seemed to be enjoying the mix of good dancing, humour, and entertainment in the show, mixed with the superb musicianship of our 4 musical maestros, Sue, Lawrence and Mark on melodeons, and Bob on percussion. And once again the final leapfrogs in the big finale were all well synchronised, with Jerry and Rob again managing to stop just short of the stage edge. And then the performing was over! – and we returned back to Wijnendale to catch the last part of the end of Festival party night with more gift exchanging and beer imbibing.
Overall the trip was a great experience, and gave all of us the chance to present and perform high quality English morris to appreciative and enthusiastic audiences in bigger venues than normal, while proving along the way that such a thing when done well can and does entertain modern day audiences. The trip was hard work in some ways, with all of the shows mentioned above needing time put aside for planning and rehearsal, which was something everyone had to get used to. But most people also managed to enjoy something of a holiday, helped in particular by the wonderful hospitality displayed by our host families, all of whom were great though I’m going to mention Valerie and Wim from personal experience for whom nothing was too much trouble. Overall all those who went thought that the Big Caper had worked well, and is something that should be continued alongside the separate identities of the 2 sides.