There are several different types of morris dancing, all from England and from different regions and different times of origin. Morris dancing, in general, is referred to as ritual dancing, meaning that it is performance dance rather than social, participatory dance.

Red Herring (with the red and yellow ribbons) and Riptide (with the blue baldrics) dance mostly cotswold morris. This is a very old type of morris, dating at least back to Shakespeare's time. It comes from the cotswold area, and agrarian area west of London. They use their bells and sticks and hankies to wake up the earth for springtime fertility.

Rose Galliard Northwest Morris dances northwest morris from the industrial northwest (Lancashire and such) These dances date later, reaching their heydays in the first half of the 1800's before train travel became available and trips to the shore became popular for holidays. Any holiday, and many were church holidays because the church and state were one, was occasion for a procession through the town and the morris dancers were part of that. They frequently wore the clogs worn in the mills.