Styx of Stroud is a mixed Border Morris side, launched in 2012 to perform traditional and contemporary dances in the Border style - so, like the best cider, that’s from the borders of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and (just a little bit) Gloucestershire.

We wear tattercoats, black with flashes of red and green to reflect the felt-making heritage of our home town of Stroud in Gloucestershire. Where we still make the yellow stuff for all the tennis balls at Wimbledon and the green for snooker tables (<< fun facts).

We paint our faces with stripes of black and red as a disguise, just like the old boys did back in the day with soot and fat.

We don't have to use soot and fat, although some of us do like a bit of lard.

And our kit is a mix of tatters and lace, corsets, boots, a bit of steampunk, bells and black hats with feathers and flowers, with our hand-whittled sticks made of hazel.

Our aims are threefold:

– to keep Border dance alive 
– to entertain our audiences 
– to have fun *

(* that’s the main one, really)

During the summer months we regularly dance out in public, at festivals, outside pubs, weddings, days of dance, wherever we’re invited, really. And some where we’re not. We’ve even been (fleetingly) seen on the telly!

But from September through to the end of April we practise every week, on a Thursday, at Open House in Stroud where they don’t mind shouting and big sticks.

We’re a mixed bunch from many walks of life - from Bupa to Bitcoin,

from IT to PR, from executives to extras, from players to playwrights,

from coppers to sparklers, from teens to grandparents.

All life is here.