The Side

Wharfedale Wayzgoose currently fields a mixed side of dancers and musicians from in and around Otley, West Yorkshire. Beyond that, we’re saying nothing. And here’s why.

The Art of Not Being Recognised

Border Morris has its roots in the agricultural communities of the Welsh Marches – Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire. Farm workers dancing at festivals and collecting money from the very landowners who employed them walked a fine line. The solution was simple and brilliant: if no one could tell who you were, no one could hold it against you come Monday morning.

The disguise took many forms – rags, tatters, blackened faces – but the principle was the same. The dancer disappears; the performance remains. It’s a tradition Wayzgoose takes seriously, even if the threat of agricultural eviction has somewhat receded since the seventeenth century.

We paint our faces black, white and red. We’re not telling you our names. You’ll just have to guess.

The Kit

The Wayzgoose kit is built on a foundation of black – black tabard, black trousers or leggings, black footwear. Against that dark canvas, everything else is deliberate.

The face is painted in black, white and red – a direct tribute to Otley’s printing heritage. Black for the ink, white for the paper, red for the tradition of colour in the printer’s art. In a town that once produced one of the world’s most celebrated printing presses, it seemed only right that the side should wear the trade on their faces.

The tabard itself is black, bearing a large goose on the front – the side’s emblem, impossible to miss and utterly unmistakable. Over the back, each dancer wears tatters of their own choosing – strips of fabric in whatever colours speak to them. Bright or muted, single colour or riot of patterns, restrained or frankly excessive. There are no rules. The tatters are the dancer’s own.

The shirt beneath is white, the neckerchief red – echoing the colours of the face and tying the whole together. On top of it all sits the top hat, decorated by its owner over time with badges, trinkets, feathers and whatever else has caught their eye along the way. No two hats are alike. No two Wayzgoose dancers look alike. That’s entirely the point.

The result is a side that moves as one but looks like an explosion in a very cheerful, very individual, very Otley haberdashery.

Who We Are

We are a mixed and inclusive side – welcoming dancers of all backgrounds since the very beginning in 1993. We are based in Otley, we practice in Otley, and we are quietly convinced that Otley is the finest town in Yorkshire. We have been known to dance in other places, but we always come home.

The side is led by a Squire, supported by a Foreman who keeps the dancing sharp, a Bagman who keeps the diary and a Treasurer – in roughly that order of success. The musicians set the pace and the dancers follow. Or should do.

If you want to get in touch – whether to book us, join us, or simply argue about Morris – head to our Contact page. We’ll know who you are, even if you don’t know who we are.

The Music

Wayzgoose is fortunate to have a band of considerable range and questionable discipline. On any given outing the music may be provided by up to three melodeons, a piano accordion, saxophone, fiddle, penny whistles, bass ukulele and guitar – with two drummers keeping everyone honest, or at least approximately together.

The melodeon usually sets the pace. The dancers follow the melodeon. In theory.

But the true jewel in the Wayzgoose musical crown – the element that has drawn admiration, astonishment and frankly envious glances from sides across the country – is the tambourine line. Precise, committed, and on a good day operating with a synchronicity that would not entirely disgrace the Tiller Girls or Beyoncé, our tambourine players bring a level of showmanship to an instrument that the music establishment has long and shamefully overlooked.

We know. We’re not surprised you’re impressed.