The mission of Bells of River City (BoRC) is to have FUN while educating Bells of River City members and the general public about the tradition of English ritual dance as performed in Grand Rapids, modeled upon but not limited to Cotswold Morris, Border Morris, Mumming, and English Sword Dance. Morris Dancing is a performance art. We strive to make our performances FUN!

Bells of River City is a very special Morris team, not least because our membership crosses generational lines. Often we have grandparents, parents, and children all performing in a single dance. It is so cool to make a wonderful show happen with kids as well as codgers!

If you did theater in high school and miss it, but don't have time for a big commitment, this might be a good group for you. We practice one to two hours per week and do a half-hour show several times a year. There's also a big celebration for May Day. Participation in performances is optional. You can have fun at our practices without making a commitment to perform.

We can always use more musicians who play portable acoustic instruments. We have had fiddle, clarinet, concertina, and bodhran but the players want to dance too! With a few more people, we could add rhythm, harmonies etc. to our sound. The tunes are mostly grounded in traditional folk repertoire and the tempo is pretty gentle.

BoRC is scheduled to practice on Saturday evenings at Holy Cross Church, Kentwood, until further notice. Practice around 6:30 - 8:00. Practice includes basic Morris Dance instruction as needed.

Please check here for any updates or last minute changes.