Alki Danceout

Day 319: Wildfire smoke kept Sound & Fury from having a practice last week, and as of yesterday morning, it looked like our annual Alki Beach danceout might be cancelled as well. Our Squire sent out a poll to see how many of us would be available if we went forward, and at 1 PM, air quality had improved sufficiently to go ahead. Our side was represented by over a dozen dancers and half a dozen musicians, performing in rotation with dancers from Misty City and North by Northwest to a small crowd of onlookers. Even so, some smoke haze veiled the Seattle skyline and Olympic mountains, and I bet I'm not the only one of us who woke this morning with a scratchy throat and irritated eyes. Smoke levels should be improving this week.

Summer's End

Day 320: Massed Morris sides danced the sun up on May Day, and last night Sound & Fury, Misty City, the Mossyback Morris Men and the Morris Offspring danced it down at Alki Beach in West Seattle, symbolically closing out the summer. It was a beautiful setting for a performance, and concluded with a processional with members of all four sides circling the down-scaled representation of Lady Liberty which overlooks Puget Sound. We still have several more gigs coming up over the next two months, and although we're taking September off from practices, we'll resume the drill in October at our indoor venue on Phinney Ridge. There are new dances and songs to learn, ale and cider to be drunk, new friends to be made. This is the celebration which is Morris!