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Longsword dancing is based on a team of six or eight dancers working together in a circle and performing a number of movements during which dancers either go over or under one of the swords. The dance normally finishes with the making and displaying of the sword lock, with the swords interwoven in one of a variety of shapes.
There are two types of native traditional English sword dancing. Teams of five men using a short flexible, two-handled sword perform the Rapper dances of County Durham and Northumberland. Rapper dancing is fast, nimble and danced to lively jig tunes. Teams of six or eight men using rigid swords of metal or wood between 30” (76 cm) and 40” (102 cm) in length perform the statelier Longsword dances, which are mainly to be found in the County of Yorkshire. The dance is generally much slower and more precise in execution. This account focuses on the Longsword dance tradition, in particular that originating from Greatham in County Durham. Longsword dance is based on dancers working together in a circle - holding the hilt of their swords in their right hands and the person on their right holding the point. The dance comprises a number of 'figures'. Without breaking the circle, the dancers complete movements during which they either go under a sword held aloft by two of the dancers or over a sword held close to the ground. Each dancer generally completes each figure. The dance culminates in the making and displaying of the sword 'lock', with the swords interwoven in one of a variety of shapes. With many of the dance traditions there was also an associated mummers’ play which formed an integral part of the performance. In the play one of the characters is ‘beheaded’ by the swords being ‘locked’ around his neck, and a quack doctor brings him back to life. A quack doctor being one who would, in earlier times, have been found at travelling fairs and shows offering a variety of dubious remedies supposedly capable of curing anything and everything. It is arguable whether these plays have always been part of the performance or if they are a later addition to enhance the entertainment value, as similar ‘stand-a-lone’ mummers’ plays have been recorded in many parts of the British Isles. Most of the dance traditions, however, are now performed without their plays, but conversely, Ripon in North Yorkshire, had, until quite recently, sword dancers who had a play but no dance! Greatham is believed to be the only example of a dance and its play still being performed together. The origins of the Longsword dances are obscure and a number of theories have been suggested since folklorists began to take an interest in the dances in the early part of the twentieth century. One theory is that the dances were brought over by invaders and settlers from Northern Europe before the end of the first millennium. Certainly there are numerous examples of linked sword dances to be found throughout Continental Europe. Until fairly recently it was also suggested that the dances are the surviving remnants of pre-Christian fertility rites. Since many of the remaining Longsword dances are performed during the darkest months of midwinter, it was supposed that the dance represented a plea to the gods to encourage the return of the sun. The death and resurrection aspects of the mummers play tending to add weight to these theories. This explanation is given less credence today and unfortunately there is no definite answer now available to us - even many of the surviving traditional teams can only say 'we do it because we have always done it’. The Longsword dances were once quite widespread across Yorkshire, with twenty-four dances being recorded in sufficient detail to still be performed and upwards of fifty other examples noted. There are several traditional teams remaining, that is, teams that maintain the dance of their own town or village. Examples can still be found at Grenoside and Handsworth, both near Sheffield, Goathland and Flamborough. There are also a number of ‘revival’ teams that formed in the 1960’s and 70’s to resurrect and save some extinct traditions from oblivion. Redcar Sword is one such side. |