Each region of the country lays claim to its own particular dancing traditions.

Reputedly the oldest version of Morris is the Cotswold style, centred on Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, in which the dancers wave handkerchiefs and have bells attached to their legs. The Cotswold is a much more light-footed (some would say "prancy") style of dancing than Border or North West.

The Border Morris, from the counties that border on Wales (Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and part of Gloucestershire), is the one that retains the tradition of dancing in blackened faces or masks, which probably owes more to its being danced by local coal-miners than to any reference to medieval Moorish styles. This is a hectic style of Morris, with plenty of shouting and stick-clashing.

In North West Morris, common in Lancashire and Cheshire, the dancing tends to be more processional than ring-based, and performers typically wear Lancashire-style clogs. Costumes are particularly vividly coloured.

Molly is an East Anglian Morris, danced in Cambridgeshire and Essex. It is a much more comedic version of Morris, with dancers typically dressed unceremoniously in work clothes, and one man – the Molly – dressed as a woman.

Carnival Morris, originating in the north between the wars, is a women’s style, also known as Fluffy on account of its tendency to favour pompoms. Although some diehards consider that Morris dancing is properly a manly pursuit, nobody who valued their lives would say so out loud to a Fluffy side all kitted up and primed for a danceout.

In addition to these, Morris enjoys support all over the civilised world, claiming enthusiastic followings in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Hong Kong, among others.