Sword dance Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Although sometimes treated as a form of Morris dance, sword dancers are proud of their own tradition and often wish to be treated as a traditional dance category in its own right.Sword dances include solo dancers around swords – such as the traditional Scottish sword dances, mock battle dances, and hilt-and-point sword dances – where the dancers are linked together by their swords in a chain.
Hilt-and-point sword dances traditional to England include rapper sword and Long Sword, although both of these are now also performed by revival teams outside their traditional areas, including teams in most of the English-speaking world.
There are related hilt-and-point sword dances that are, or were, performed all over Europe. These are particularly concentrated in an area corresponding to the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire at around 1400-1500, and many of these traditional dances are still performed in Germany, Austria and the Flanders. Linked sword dances were also found all over the Iberian Peninsula, and are still widely performed in the Basque Country. An overview of these can be found on the Related Traditions page of the Rapper Online website.
Mock battle sword dances are found worldwide, varying from the Saltatio Armatum of the ancient Romans, through Turkish, Persian and Middle Eastern traditions to Japanese mock battle dances. Some European sword dances, such as the dance from the island of Korcula in Croatia, include both hilt-and-point and mock battle sequences.
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English sword dancing has also been brought to the New World. One example is the Toronto Women's Sword club who were established in Toronto in the late 1980s as an organization for dancing long sword and rapper dances. They dance in white pants and fuchsia vests.
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