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 | Rapper sword is a kind of sword dance. locator map showing North East England File links The following pages link to this file: Northumbria North East England Rapper sword Categories: GFDL images ...
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. ...
History
The rapper sword tradition (which has no connection with rapping) was traditionally performed in the mining villages of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield in North East England, especially in Tyneside. The dance involves five people (often accompanied by two Tommy and Betty characters) connected by short, two-handled, flexible swords (called rappers) forming an unbroken chain. The dance is related to the Long Sword dance of Yorkshire, as well as other sword dances in Europe. Hip hop music is a style of popular music. ...
North East England is one of the regions of England. ...
Tyneside is a conurbation in northern England, covering part of the area of Tyne and Wear. ...
Tommy and Betty represent the father and mother of the rapper sword dancers. ...
The Long Sword dance is a hilt-and-point sword_dance from Yorkshire in England. ...
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. ...
The dance is a fairly rapid one, performed at around 100-160 beats per minute, with different team styles using different rates. It should nonetheless be performed in a smooth and graceful manner, with one figure flowing seamlessly into the next. A number of acrobatic figures can be employed, including forward and backward somersaults over swords held at waist height. It is beyond reasonable dispute that rapper is the most exciting of England's traditional dances to watch.
The dance is now almost always performed to jigs (6/8 time), and indeed the normal form of rapper "stepping" – a form of shuffle imported in the 1920s from the local clog dance tradition – would not be possible if a jig were not used. However, some of the earliest teams used hornpipes rather than jigs. The jigs used include local tunes, although most rapper jigs used for at least the last hundred years are Irish tunes, probably imported by Irish immigrants to Tyneside in the nineteenth century. Many instruments can and have been used to accompany rapper dances, the most popular being fiddles, tin whistles and accordions. The music is usually performed solo, although can be performed as a duet; however, rapper is not usually performed to a band.
 The Royal Earsdon sword dancers in 1910 The costume in which the dance is usually performed is a stylized version of the working clothes of the local nineteeth century coal miner (see photograph, left). It consists of shirt, sash, pit hoggers (a type of knee-length trousers, similar to breeches but open at the knee to be practical for working in the confined spaces of coal mines) and socks or stockings. Some traditional teams decorated their kit with ribbons or rosettes, and added a tie and/or waistcoat; long trousers can be used in place of hoggers, as for example by the Swalwell dancers. Royal Earsdon sword dancers in 1910 The Royal Earsdon sword dances, from the village of Earsdon, Northumberland (although now in North Tyneside), England, in around 1910. ...
Royal Earsdon sword dancers in 1910 The Royal Earsdon sword dances, from the village of Earsdon, Northumberland (although now in North Tyneside), England, in around 1910. ...
Modern teams use a variety of kits, mostly based on the traditional costume, with each team using different combinations of colours to try to have a unique corporate image. Some other modern sides, especially women's sides, use very different kits.
An article reviewing the kits used by traditional sides was published in The NUT and is available in the Archives section of The NUT on the Net website.
Based on early historical records, the dance would appear to be derived from an older tradition using rigid swords – like the Long Sword dance. At some stage in the nineteenth century, these rigid swords were replaced by flexible rappers. This major development in the tradition may have been entirely accidental – perhaps someone tried to improvise a sword using a flexible length of steel (such as a saw blade with the teeth filed down), and in a moment of inspiration realised the potential of using flexible swords. Teams were certainly known to have improvised rappers from mining tools such as saw blades and bed laths; and in any case, purpose-made flexible rappers would have been prohibitively expensive before the invention of the Bessemer process in 1855 allowed steel to be made inexpensively. Bessemer Converter, Schematic Diagram The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. ...
During the nineteenth century, teams of rapper dancers from the pit villages of Tyneside, and later Wearside, would travel annually to the towns of Newcastle_upon_Tyne, Sunderland and Durham to peform the dance for the crowds – and for a consideration in money! This was later revived as a source of income during the miners' strikes and lay-offs of the Great Depression. This article is about a city in the United Kingdom. ...
Map sources for Sunderland at grid reference NZ3957 Sunderland is an industrial city and port in the English metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear. ...
Durham (IPA: locally, in RP) is a small city in the north east of England. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
By the early twentieth century, the tradition was beginning to die out, but was revived by the interest generated after Cecil Sharp published notations for five of the traditional village dances in his book, The Sword Dances of Northern England. After the First World War, the revival was marked by the fierce competition between pit villages in the rapper classes of the newly-instituted North of England Musical Tournament held annually in Newcastle upon Tyne. Cecil James Sharp (1859-1924) was the founding father of the folklore revival in England in the early twentieth century, and many of Englands traditional dances and music owe their continuing existence to his work in recording and publishing them. ...
World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ...
After the Second World War, the tradition progressively declined in its original pit villages, partly as a result of social changes in the mining communities. However, another revival was initiated after the war by students at Kings College in Newcastle upon Tyne (now the University of Newcastle upon Tyne), which subsequently spread beyond the traditional area. Revival teams worldwide now perform the tradition, sometimes learnt from published notations, sometimes taught by rapper dancers in what is almost a continuation of the earlier oral traditions. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th-century conflict that engulfed much of the globe...
The University of Newcastle upon Tyne is located in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north of England. ...
Further information Further information is provided by the Rapper Online Web site, including the origins and history of the dance, teams listing, notations of traditional dances and more. Current and historical information is also available at The NUT on the Net – the Web edition of The NUT, the journal of the rapper sword dance.
Leading exponents of the tradition in its traditional area include the Newcastle Kingsmen and High Spen Blue Diamonds. The Rapper Online website provides the definitive list of rapper sword teams.
A competition, known as DERT (Dancing England Rapper Tournament), which is open to all rapper sword teams is held annually. In March 2005 DERT20005 was held in Preston, Lancashire and on 17-19 March 2006 DERT20006 will be held in York. Preston is a city and local government district in North West England. ...
York is a city in northern England, at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss. ...
Images The images below show some examples of Rapper sword dancing, taken from the Newcastle Kingsmen and World Millennium Sword Spectacular Web sites.
 The Newcastle Kingsmen displaying the "Haymarket" figure |
 The Kingsmen's "Tommy" character, one of two comic characters integral to the Rapper Sword Dance. |
 The finale of the rapper sword dance, illustrating the "Star" figure | | | |
 Jack the Rapper - a rapper team from Norway! | Newcastle Kingsmen rapper sword dancers This work is copyrighted. ...
Newcastle Kingsmen rapper sword dancers This work is copyrighted. ...
Newcastle Kingsmen rapper sword dancers This work is copyrighted. ...
Newcastle Kingsmen rapper sword dancers This work is copyrighted. ...
Newcastle Kingsmen rapper sword dancers This work is copyrighted. ...
Newcastle Kingsmen rapper sword dancers This work is copyrighted. ...
Pengywn Rapper This work is copyrighted. ...
Pengywn Rapper This work is copyrighted. ...
Sallyport Sword Dancers This work is copyrighted. ...
Sallyport Sword Dancers This work is copyrighted. ...
Jack the Rapper This work is copyrighted. ...
Jack the Rapper This work is copyrighted. ...
External Links
Updating the Rapper Sword Pages This section provides a view of Rapper Sword from the perspective of members of the Newcastle Kingsmen. Members of other rapper sword teams are invited to contribute to the pages. Please read the Discuss This Page section so that the pages will continue to provide a readable, useful and authoratitive view of Rapper Sword dancing as new material is added. |
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