Ouse Washes Molly Dancers, where do we come from? where did
we get the name? from whence came the amazing dances which
have stunned audiences all the way from Garboldisham to
Grunty Fen?
The fenland, the last great wilderness of southern Britain is
our legendary home and the dancing derives from the ancient
practices of the gallant folk who struggled with the aigue
crocodiles millennia ago and tamed the areas of the hidden bogs
in which they lived.
When the devilish Dutch emerged from across the balmy North Sea
some centuries back and despite our murderous undoing of their
work they succeeded in draining most of our land the true folk
referred to the area known as Ouse Washes, between the two great
drains they dug, where in the winter the land still floods and
swans and ducks leaving their desolate homes in Siberia to
gather with us. There the Tiddy Mun still holds sway and piss
pots are still emptied into the dykes to appease the evil
spirits. There we draw our succour and inspiration.
But what of those incredible dances I hear you scream,
frustrated by the interminable ramblings about our history. But
without knowing the history and the legends and the dark watery
depths from which we sprang you can’t hope to understand the
subtleties of our delicate movements