Morris Dancing

100 Morris dancers from 'sides' across the country – including The Hammersmith Morris, Eynsham Morris and The Stone Monkey Sword Dancers – will assemble and dance on Queen's Walk.

When Lord Coe was interviewed in Beijing about a possible opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics, he quipped that he would invite 5,000 Morris Dancers to take part.

He was making reference to the Morris Dancer as an iconic English image, but he was also taking the micky.

Responding to this remark, pop artist David Owen's 5000 Morris Dancers weekend at Southbank Centre (3-5 September) is a three-day event that both subverts and makes a claim for the vibrancy of England's ritual dance tradition with a weekend of music, film and art. Events include a large-scale art installation by Owen himself; performances by acclaimed The Imagined Village and The Demon Barbers (4 September); screenings of the 1972 classic film Morris On and new documentary Way of The Morris (4 September) and a club night curated by Magpie's Nest (4 September).