Review of the online talk given by Andrew Kennedy on 2nd May 2021.  If you’d like to read more about this and other aspects of sword dancing that have interested Andrew, please look at his website About Sword Dancing at www.sworddance.info 

Bob Wilson writes:

“On Sunday the 2^nd May over 60 of us were treated to a ‘Zoom’ talk by Andrew Kennedy who attempted to answer the questions ‘Who were the Sword dancers and why did they do it?’.   Andrew of course is well known to us as past editor of the Sword Dance journal ‘Rattle up My Boys’ and an expert on all things long sword with a bit of rapper thrown in for good measure.

“Four photographs started the talk, emphasizing the wide range of sword dancing currently found in the UK. Rapper (Whip the Cat), long sword, (Isle of Man White boys), wooden peg sword dancing (Flamborough) and controversially, a garland dance (Minden Rose Garland Dancers), the latter being included as in Andrew’s opinion, it is hard to explain a sword dance while at the same time excluding garland dancing.

“Andrew attempted to answer the question ‘Why did they do it?’ by showing two 16^th century paintings, Dance of the Nuremberg Cutlers Guild (1600) and The Kermesse of the Feast of St George (Bruegel, c. 1560). The former suggesting that the dance was performed by apprentices and journeymen of a guild in the presence of the elders, and the latter that the dance was part of village feast day celebrations.” Theories as to why sword dancing exists at all were suggested and these included religious or cultic, men’s adult fraternities, military exercises and industrial (mining). All of these were expanded upon with citing various historical texts.

“Andrew quoted from Tacitus in 98AD who wrote: ‘Naked youths whose sport is fling themselves about in a dance between swords and spears levelled at them.’ Disappointingly, Andrew’s accompanying photograph of the Dithmarscher Sword Dancers taken 2011 seemed to be of a much tamer event.   Tacitus does however go on to suggest that: ‘However daring their abandon, their sole reword is the spectators’ pleasure.’

“Andrew introduced the idea that it might have religious significance by quoting Schuster (1870) linking the dance to the god Fro (Norse Freyr, brother of Freyja) associated with fertility, sexuality, virility and fine weather and Frazer (1890) in ‘The Golden Bough’ linking it to the death and rebirth of a sacred king.

“Initiation of young men into fraternities was explored with some disturbing evidence linking it to German National Socialism.

“The evidence that the sword dance might be linked to military exercise was discussed and it was even suggested that the dance used real swords which the men jumped over and ducked under. Woe betide anyone whose timing was less than perfect!

“Andrew noted that areas where coal or metal ore was mined have a robust sword dance history, iron ore in Cleveland, Sheffield steel, coal from Durham and Northumberland and wolfram (tungsten) in Austria.

“Andrew also noted that Cecil Sharp in the early 20^th Century had a theory that as he observed most English Sword dancing to be east of the Pennines that the dance probably has Viking origins.   Not strictly true as Sharp’s research later revealed dances as far away as Workington on the west coast.

“As to ‘Who were the sword dancers?’, Andrew produced three case studies. The first from the diary of a Nicholas Blundell of Little Crosby in Lancashire of whom Andrew said wrote, produced, directed and funded his own dance for ‘when his Marl-pit is flower’d’ and again on Twelfth night. Blundell went on to name all 14 men in his company.   The second was from the town of Bilk near Düsseldorf where the last three lead dancers (vortänzer) are known by name. In the nearby town of Haddorf the last known vortänzer, Schräder died in the winter of 1919-20 aged 91.   There was a fascinating third case from the town of Elgin in Scotland where in 1623 all the dancers as young men were fined 40/- for taking part in the sword dance.   Among other crimes the individual dancers were accused of were ‘running profanely through the high street’, a ‘blasphemous pledge of friendship at the market cross’, ‘riding the grey mare’ and ‘clinking of basins’.  The dancers were truly a law breaking band of young men who, Andrew says, eventually grew up to become respected elders of the town.

“In conclusion, sword dancers it was suggested came from a wide social range, not usually from the nobility and were all male (before the 20^th century). As for why they did it, Andrew’s evidence points to many theories with each theory having notable exceptions.

“Andrew was happy to answer questions after the talk.

“Congratulations to Andrew for a well researched and thought provoking talk on the people of the sword dance throughout Britain and Europe.

Review by Bob Wilson, Captain of High Spen Blue Diamonds Traditional Rapper Sword Dancers

Participants were encouraged to support the sword dancing newsletter Rattle Up, My Boys or, better still, subscribe – a very reasonable £8 for one year (4 issues).  Email: rattleupmyboys@gmail.com

 

Andrew Kennedy edited the sword dancing newsletter Rattle Up, My Boys for a while and organised the overseas teams for the 2004 and 2008 International Sword Spectacular festivals.  Andrew has danced/played with teams including Clydeside Rapper, Carlisle Sword and Morris Dancers, Sallyport Sword Dancers, East Saxon Swords, White Star Sword Dancers, Thrales Rapper, Southport Swords, and the North British Sword Dancers.

Rhys Boorman ran a 7-week fitness programme designed to get us back to dancing fitness.  Here are two reviews.  The videos of all sessions are on this Playlist: Return to Dancing Fitness 2021 (Playlist)

Tina Boyle writes:

“This course started with the live session on 21st March (see my review), followed by 5 weekly videos to follow by ourselves and finished with a live session with Rhys on 2nd May. Congratulations to everyone who followed the course, I’m sure all of you will have seen improvements in your level of fitness.

“Rhys recorded warm up and cool down videos for us to use with the exercise videos. The weekly videos were well presented and clear to follow, with Rhys providing 2 levels of difficulty so that individuals could go at their own safe pace. I stuck to the ‘easy’ level throughout because I have never used a gym or done a course like this before and I didn’t want to over do it. Some of my muscles complained lots after the first live session core exercises (to be expected!) and in fact they were still complaining by the first video, hence the decision to go down the easy route. I left out 3 of the core exercises that week but had a go at them on week 3. By week 4, I was feeling happier and rather chuffed at realising that I was indeed making progress. Hurray!

“Pauline (our Morris Fed. President) also did the course – well done Pauline! She told us that the ‘flutter kicks’ exercise was her nemesis. It took me several weeks to manage the flutter kicks but my nemesis is the ‘Russian twist’ with feet off the floor. I haven’t managed it yet! I am sure that we all have particular ones that we find difficult so lets keep up the routines, master these difficult exercises and make even more progress.

“The live sessions were recorded and the videos are on the Morris Federation playlist so they are all available for us to continue using. It will help us improve and then maintain our dance fitness.

“If you didn’t do the course, or dropped out for whatever reason, then how about giving the course a look? I recommend it.

“Thank you Rhys for all your time and effort to present this course for us. I have benefitted from it and, judging by other peoples responses at the end of the last live session, many others have enjoyed it and benefitted from it too.  Thank you also Morris Federation for organising this course and providing the opportunity to rewatch and follow the live sessions and videos.

“If you didn’t do the course then take a look, have a go!

Review by Tina Boyle of Furness Clog Dancers in Ulverston, Cumbria

Maureen Cutts writes:

Seven weeks ago, 14 members of Milltown Cloggies, hoping to soon get back to weekly practices, registered with Rhys’ programme to try and eliminate some of our lockdown flab and inertia.

“Not all of us managed to complete all the sessions, and some even have alternative ways to exercise regularly but everyone who took part felt the benefit of the sessions.

“It was impressive the way Rhys focussed on core strengthening and power exercises, tailoring the programme very specifically to Morris dancers’ needs. We appreciated the way he adapted in response to feedback and his pacing of the sessions so that you really felt you were making progress. Small details, like ensuring his trainers were a contrast to the mat so that you could see his feet clearly, showed how much thought and care Rhys had put into his planning. We all found the sessions hard, especially the last three sessions, where the rest period between exercises was reduced from 30 to 20 seconds, but also really enjoyed all the sessions.  I’m sure that we will continue to use the warm up and cool down routines regularly and some of us may even continue to do all the exercises, now that we have felt the benefit over the last few weeks.

“Perhaps even more important than the physical gains of joining in the programme is the feeling that we are all a part of the Morris community, through this time of enforced separation. Hearing that our friends in the USA were up at 5 am to join in the zoom session and joining in the many other workshops and tutorials that the Morris Federation have organised, make us realise that there is a way through the pandemic. To quote Ian McMillan in his lockdown poem of hope “Here is tomorrow / In yesterday’s sweat.”

“The Milltown Cloggies would like to join with all the sides which took part in extending our sincere thanks to Rhys Boorman and The Morris Federation for their magnificent efforts to give us such an excellent programme. Your hard work is very much appreciated.

Review by Maureen Cutts of Milltown Cloggies of Dukinfield and Stalybridge in Greater Manchester

The videos of all the sessions are available on the MF YouTube channel at: Return to Dancing Fitness 2021 (Playlist)

Donations from participants raised money for Mind: https://www.mind.org.uk/donate

Coming up soon are two big events – the JMO Day of Dance on Sat 24th April – everyone from all 3 morris orgs welcome.  (The JMO is the Joint Morris Organisations – the Morris Federation, the Morris Ring and Open Morris) and our ‘Workshop Showcase’ Day on Sun 9th May – come along to perform together all the dances we’ve learned in our online workshops this winter, so get practising.  Plus more exercise and more talks.

see all MF events & register

Click on the links below to find out more and to register.  The latest and correct list will always be at: www.morrisfed.org.uk/events/. Also posted on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/MorrisFed.org.uk.

Online events in April

• Not one of our events but Derby Live have a St George’s Day celebration on Fri 23rd April with a dragon procession and a ceilidh.
• Joint Morris Organisations’ Day of Dance 2021 – Sat 24th April 10:00-17:00.  All 3 morris orgs invite you to play and dance the day away.  Two parallel streams: Music Session 11:00-15:00, and Dance Workshops 10:00-16:00 to learn the Bacca Pipes jig with Rachel Cole-Wilkin; ‘The Celebration’ North West solo dance with John Earnshaw; Mrs Marhoff’s single hornpipe clog stepping routine with Toby Bennett; and the Over the Hills Oddington Jig with Ollie & Matt Simons, followed by massed dancing 16:00-17:00.
• Talk – The Adderbury Morris Men – Sun 25th April 16:00-17:30. Find out about the Adderbury tradition in Oxfordshire that died out in the 19thC, what sparked its revival in 1975, and what happened next.
• In the media: Matthew Green on what links Morris Dancing to Raves – Thu 29th April 11:30-12:00 on BBC Radio 4. The unlikely connections between Morris dancers and ravers & what drives them out into the fields to dance at dawn.

Online events in May

• If you feel the need to get up for Dawn on May Day then Live to Your Living Room are putting on a May Dawn Dance – Sat 1st May 05:30 with Martin Green, Eliza Carthy, Maddy Prior, Adie Baako and Boss Morris.
• Last session of 6 Week Programme – Return to Dancing Fitness – Rhys Boorman – Sun 2nd May 10:00-11:00.  Get dance fit with Rhys with his weekly videos (see the playlist linked from that page).  This is the final ‘live’ session – no need to re-register if you registered for the first one.
• Talk – Who were the Sword Dancers and why did they do it? – Andrew Kennedy – Sun 2nd May 16:00-17:30.  We take a look at the people who did sword dancing in Britain and northern Europe from 14thC to 19thC.
• Workshop Showcase Day – Sun 9th May.  Be a Lockdown Learner!  Show off all your newly acquired skills and dances that you’ve learned at our workshops.  For each Cotswold, Clog, North West, and Border dance we’ve done in the workshops, we’ll have a rehearsal then we can all dance it together and take a video recording for posterity.
• Talk – ‘Morris Dancers and Rose Queens’ Volume 1: 1888-1900 ‘Once over Lightly’ – Johnny Haslett – Sat 15th May 16:00-17:30.  A tour of his book – an anthology of reported carnivals and galas in West Lancashire between 1888 and 1900, together with the accompanying morris dancing activity.

We are having a break from online weekend events after 15th May, and starting again next winter, so please contact us if you have one to offer.

Diary dates

2021

• Saturday 25th September 2021 – our AGM will be held online over Zoom.  We’ve made the sad decision to cancel the Day of Dance in September with hosts Customs and Exiles, and ceilidh band The Diatonics, and thank them for all their hard work.

2022
Next year we’ll look forward to seeing you in person:

• Saturday 9th April 2022 in Liverpool for the JMO National Day of Dance.
• Saturday 24th September 2022 in Darlington for the MF Day of Dance and AGM with hosts Black Diamond Mixed Cotswold Morris.