Pan’s Menagerie

Pan’s Menagerie is a side of molly dancers based at the Red Dog Saloon on Alameda Island in the San Francisco Bay area.

Molly dancing is historically based on theft and disguise: theft of dances, and disguise of the dancers in order to conceal the crime and protect the guilty.

Red Dog
The proprietor of the Red Dog Saloon.

Molly Dancing

Molly dancing has been done in the Fenlands of Cambridgeshire since time immemorial, and in the frozen winters of Northern California since time immoral. Pan’s Menagerie is proud to join the community of Bay Area festival dance teams.

Winter Traditions

Most people who think of morris dancing at all probably think first of Cotswold morris dancing, which is done in the spring and summer months, for seasonal celebrations and at various fates worse than death.

But the morris has another, darker heritage. The Stick and Bucket dance is well-enough known; but there is also border morris, rapper sword and longsword (often, a virgin is sacrificed), and of course the sinister, transgressive molly dance. Molly dancers are often men dressed as women, women dressed as animals, or animals dressed as men. It can be hard to tell, but it’s a difference that could only matter to another molly dancer.

Day of Dance

Pan’s Menagerie will be making their first appearance in this mortal coil at the Winter Traditions Day of Dance, held in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf area for many years, and next time on Sunday 2009-01-25.

Please contact if your team wants to take part.

The schedule this year is as follows:

**Winter Traditions Day of Dance Programme**
When	What	Where
10:30	Call	The Cannery
11–11:45	Dancing	The Cannery
12–1:30	Lunch	Tiernan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant
2–2:45	Dancing	Pier 39
3:15–4	Dancing	Hyde St Pier cable car turnaround
4–late	Dinner	Buena Vista bar

All venues are child-friendly for dance team members.

Notes

Brown Dog Molly writes ...

Here’s our "final" content and timing. Feel free to forward to all interested parties.
2009 Winter Traditions Day of Dance, 1/25/09
Get into San Francisco. Parking is complicated, but we start and end near the same location.
10:30–11 Check in at the Cannery. We are booked for their performance space 11–11:45am.
Walk to Tiernan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant at 685 Beach Street (on the same block as the Cannery.) The owner is a musician, and they even offered us the use of the amplification system! We’ve got a big room reserved for around 40 people (kids welcome too) 12n–1:30 ish.
Walk down to Pier 39. I’ll check in with the security guards, who will escort us to the 20×20 stage area. We’re booked on their stage area 2–2:45.
Walk back to the Hyde Street Pier, where we’ll dance at the cable car turnaround 3:15–4. I don’t know what the stage area is like, but there is always a great crowd and we’re permitted to dance on/in the performance area.
Walk up Hyde Street a block to end up at the Buena Vista. This is the only place we don’t have reservations or permits for, but they have assured me that they can easily accommodate 40 people (kids welcome) at 4 on a Sunday afternoon.
With 45-minute stands, I think we’ll be able to have 3 rotations and one mass dance (Tinners) at each stop. Tinners will be taught if needed, but please bring a stick or something to clash with if you want to dance it.