How many morris dancers are there in the UK?
How many morris dancers are there in the UK? Trying to answer this fundamental question was the inspiration for this survey’s conception in 2014. Measuring the number of members is challenging because people can be members of more than one side, but the survey measures this separately to account for it.
In 2023, there are 12,600 members of morris dancing sides in the UK. This is down by 1,000 compared to 2020 and is slightly lower than it was in both 2017 and 2014. The steady growth in the number of morris dancers between 2014 and 2020 has gone rapidly into reverse.
In 2023, there are 12,600 members of morris dancing sides in the UK. This is down by 1,000 compared to 2020 and is slightly lower than it was in both 2017 and 2014. The steady growth in the number of morris dancers between 2014 and 2020 has gone rapidly into reverse.
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Why has the number of morris dancers fallen in the three years from 2020 to 2023? The main reason is that the number of active UK sides has fallen, from 812 in 2020 to 767 in 2023. Quite a number of sides disbanded during or after the pandemic.
Another factor is that there was also a slight fall in the number of members per side, from 18.7 members per side in 2020 to 18.2 members per side in 2023.
The chart below shows that the number of members per side varies substantially according to the type of dance the side performs. Border sides tend to have more members than the average side, while Clog step, Appalachian, Mumming and Rapper sides tend to be smaller than average.
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