MORRIS dancing could be "extinct" within 20 years because young people are too embarrassed to take part, a UK Morris association spokesman said yesterday.

The numbers of people participating in the traditional British folk dance are dwindling whilst the age of the dancers is increasing, according to the Morris Ring, an association representing over 200 Morris troupes across Britain.

In the North-East and North Yorkshire, there are about 20 traditional dance groups. Leo Nugent, 60, of Croft, near Darlington, who has been dancing with sides in Richmondshire for nearly 20 years, said: “There isn’t really a future for morris dancing.

I would like there to be, but I can’t see it. It’s all old men, and young kids don’t want to be with old men.”

Charlie Corcoran, Bagman of the Morris Ring, said: ‘‘There’s a distinct possibility that in 20 years’ time there will be nobody left.

‘‘It worries me a great deal.

Young people are just too embarrassed to take part.

‘‘This is a serious situation.

The average age of Morris dancing sides is getting older and older. Once we’ve lost this part of our culture it will be almost impossible to revive it.’’ On Sunday, as part of the 12th night celebrations, the Richmond-on-Swale Morris Men performed a mummers’ play in Richmond.

“I’m 52 and I’m one of the youngest members,” said Neil Boynton, a past bagman (or treasurer) of the 14-strong group which meets every Thursday night at 8pm at Cleasby village hall near Darlington.

“We are always looking for members,” he said. “Young people don’t understand what it’s all about because they haven’t been introduced to the traditions at an early age.”

Locos in Motion is a group with about a dozen members which meets in Sadberge village hall every Tuesday at eight. Its members include a pilot, a teacher, a gardener, engineers and people who are retired.

“It takes a certain type of person who’s interested in the culture and dancing, and who likes to get out and about,”

said founder member Susan Caygill, 54, a retired nurse.

“It’s just about people getting out and enjoying themselves.

There’s a great social side.

The weekends away at festivals are really good fun, you learn different types of dances, and have lots to drink.

“We are a Border Morris group and we black our faces up. In the olden times, it was illegal to beg so the dancers put coaldust on their faces to hide who they were and if the police came they would be able to run away, wipe the muck off and turn the jackets inside out.

“I enjoy the madness and the wildness of the dance, but if I didn’t black my face up, I wouldn’t do it. You can be incognito, you can be a different person.”

Even a group like the Goathland Plough Stots on the Yorkshire Moors is struggling.

It has 100 members across the country and a place in history as England’s oldest longsword dance team.

“It came onto these shores with the Vikings,” said John Atkinson from the group.

“In Goathland, we are a farming community and we like to think of it as a fertility dance with the clashing of the swords driving out evil spirits.”

The group’s big day is in less than a fortnight’s time on January 17 – the Saturday after the Blessing of the Plough church service – when they dance around the community bringing luck for the growing season and collecting money to pay for seeds.

But village life on the moors is changing. Youngsters move away in search of education and jobs and incomers don’t understand the traditions.

“We’ll get three teams of six for our day of dance, if not more,” said Mr Atkinson, “ but we struggle to get a team together to dance for a festival during the rest of the year.

“I would like to think we can keep going, but it is hard.”

Perhaps there would be a future if the Morris Ring could write some morris dancing software for the Nintendo wii.