Sword dance

For the racehorse, see Sword Dancer (horse).

a Bedouin woman performing a sword dance, c. 1910

Sword dances are recorded from throughout world history. There are various traditions of solo and mock battle (Pyrrhic) sword dances from Greece, the Middle East, Pakistan, India, China, Korea, Scotland and Japan. Popular Dances like Choliya from the Kumaon region of India, and khukri dances from Nepal are prominent in the sub-continent, while all known linked ("hilt-and-point") sword dances are from Europe.

Female sword dancing, or Raks al sayf, was not widespread in the Middle East. Men in Egypt performed a dance called el ard, a martial arts dance involving upraised swords, but women were not widely known to use swords as props during their dancing in public. However, paintings and engravings of the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme (who visited Egypt in the 18th century) show sword dancers balancing sabers on their head. Sword dancing, (Raqs al Saïf) is widespread in Turkey, Pakistan-India and Iran.

Women’s sword dancing evolved out of sword fighting between men in Egypt and Turkey. There was even a time when sword dancing was banned by the Sultan during Ottoman rule, as it was believed that dancers who took a sword from a soldier and pretended to “kill” him at the end of the performance collected the swords to begin a resistance against the army. These swords were never returned. A Word on Sword Dancing by Jheri St James

General sword dance forms include:

• solo dancers around swords – such as the traditional Scottish sword dances. This general form also encompasses non-sword dances such as the bacca pipes jig in Cotswold morris dance,
• mock battle dances, including many stick dances from non-sword traditions, and such common continental dances as Bouffons or Mattachins as described by Thoinot Arbeau in 1588.
• hilt-and-point sword dances – where the dancers are linked together by their swords in a chain. These form the basis for rapper sword and long sword forms,
• the Choliya sword dance of the Kumaon region of the hills of the Indian state of Uttarakhand, which started partly due to their long martial tradition and also to give protection to marriage processions. It was also held to be auspicious and, according to Hindu tradition, helpful in warding off evil spirits. It has a very beautiful and graceful form and has techniques which give it the status of a martial art.

Mock battle

Mock battle sword dances are found worldwide, varying from the Greek Xiphism, 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 Moreshka from the island of Korcula in Croatia, include both hilt-and-point and mock battle sequences.

Linked

Hilt-and-point sword dances 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, North Italy and Flanders. Linked sword dances were also found all over the Iberian Peninsula, and are still widely performed in the Basque Country.

Sword dances performed by the guilds of Smiths and Cutlers in Nuremberg are recorded from 1350. 16th century records of sword dances survive from all over Germany. Depictions of dances survive from Zürich (1578) and Nuremberg (1600). In Scotland a dance was recorded as being performed in 1285, but this was found in a document from 1440.

An important concentration of traditional sword dances can be found on the Italian side of the western Alps. Main sites are Giaglione, Venaus and S. Giorio in the Susa valley, where the so called "Spadonari" (sword -holders) dance is still now performed between the end of January and the beginning of February. This dance is also connected with the rebirth of nature and vegetation.

In Romania, in a dance called Calusari, a sword dance similar to a Morris Dance, is part of a more complex ritualistic dance involving elements of fertility ritual and horse worship.

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. English sword dancing has also been brought to the New World, initially as part of the "morris revival" of the 1970s and 1980s. Teams are now extant in most major metropolitan areas in North America. The New York Sword Ale is an annual gathering over Presidents' Day weekend that brings together over a dozen sword teams form the east coast and around the world.

Kilic Kalkan

The Sword and Shield Dance of Bursa represents the Ottoman conquest of the city. It is performed by men only, dressed in early Ottoman battle dress, who dance to the sound of clashing swords and shields without music.

• Traditional Choliya(Sword) dance(Uttarakhand,India)
  Traditional Choliya(Sword) dance(Uttarakhand,India)
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  St Martin in Sulmtal (Austria)
• 
  Kemen Dance Group performing a ezpatadantza (Basque Country)
• 
  St Martin in Sulmtal (Austria)
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  Flamborough sword dancers (England)
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  Markina sword dancers (Basque Country)
• Giaglione, spadonari (Susa valley, Alps, Italy)
  Giaglione, spadonari (Susa valley, Alps, Italy)
• Venaus, spadonari (Cenischia valley, Alps, Italy)
  Venaus, spadonari (Cenischia valley, Alps, Italy)
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  Traunstein Sword Dance (Germany, Bavaria)
• Albanian Fest by Jean-Léon Gérôme
  Albanian Fest by Jean-Léon Gérôme

See also

• Kalarippayattu
• Geommu
• Four Scottish Dances
• Long Sword dance
• Weapon dance

Literature

• Stephen D Corrsin, Sword Dancing in Europe: A History, London: Hisarlik Press (1997).

External links

General

• Rapper Online - information on the rapper sword dance
• Overview of hilt-and-point sword dances (from Rapper Online; includes photos, videos and links)
• Feature Bavarian Sword Dance (Schwerttanz Traunstein, Youtube)
• Giaglione, Italy,sword dance