You may have danced disco and attended
the ballet. But how many times have you seen centuries-old English
sword dancing performed in traditional style?
On Valentine’s Day, sword-dancing teams will come to Manhattan
and Brooklyn as part of the two-day New York Sword Dance Festival,
now in its 18th year.
Hosted by Half Moon Sword, the festival, or "ale,"
will begin at the Port Authority Bus Terminal (42nd Street and
Eighth Avenue) on Feb. 15 at 9:30 am and end the following day
with a 2:30 pm performance at the Prospect Park Picnic House
(Third Street in Prospect Park). There will also be a performance
at the Beaux Arts Court in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (200 Eastern
Parkway) on Feb. 15 at 4:30 pm, and other performances in the
area.
These three venues will feature performances by all of the teams,
but other public spaces, such as libraries in Brooklyn and Manhattan,
will feature smaller combinations of teams.
Dancer Allison Day is a member of Half Moon Sword, a 23-year-old
team, and the manager of youth and family programs at the Brooklyn
Museum.
Day, 35, lives in Park Slope, but the dancers in her team come
from all over the metropolitan area. And the dancers who will
be performing in the festival come from all over the United States,
Canada and England.
Day first became involved in sword dancing through "a friend
of a friend – musician Jody Kruskal, who plays for Half Moon
Sword – when he came to the Brooklyn Museum of Art for the ’Stories
and Art’ family performance series."
"He told me his wife danced for a sword dance team and asked
me if I was interested," Day told GO Brooklyn. "I had
never seen sword dancing, but I auditioned and was accepted It
was really wonderful."
This is Day’s fourth year with Half Moon Sword.
Although we know that the sword dancing tradition is many hundreds
of years old, "its origins are lost in the mists of history,"
says Day.
Sword dancing traditions came from all over the world, but the
festival features only English sword dancing, which was performed
in village pubs or on the village green.
"Some of the dances contain patterns made by the swords
and the dancers, who dance with the swords that are very beautiful
and might remind you of things that come from that village,"
says Day. For example the Bampton Weavers’ Dance [a dance that
Half Moon Sword will be performing] contains many patterns that
look like a loom going up and down."
Sword dancing was traditionally performed by men, but today,
many groups are all female, like Half Moon Sword, or mixed.
"It was only in the past 20 years or so that women have
begun participating," Day explains.
There are two kinds of English sword dancing: rapper and long
sword.
"Long sword dancing is a slow, stately form of dancing from
northern England," says Day. "Each dance is named for
the town in which it originated. A long sword looks like a conventional
sword with a handle at one end and a blade about one and a half
feet long. It is not sharp, nor is it heavy.
"Dancers hold their own handle in their right hand and the
tip of another sword in their left hand, so the dancers are always
connected." The emphasis here is on weaving patterns with
the swords.
"This [rapper] style of dance is fast, flashy and intricate.
We dance with a sword that has a handle at either end, and a
flexible blade. One handle will pivot so that you hold the handle
of one sword so it curves over your shoulder and another dancer
holds the sword handle behind you," explains Day. "So,
again, all the dancers are connected. But the swords look different
because they curve around different parts of your body. The dances
we will be doing are made up of different traditional figures."
The festival will also feature live music featuring the fiddle
and accordion.
The Bible tells us to beat our swords into plowshares, but these
sword dancers have perhaps found an even better use for this
ancient weapon.
The New York Sword Dance Festival sponsored
by Half Moon Sword takes place Feb. 15-16 in locations throughout
New York City. On Feb. 15 at 3 pm, troupes will perform at the
Brooklyn Heights Public Library at 280 Cadman Plaza West. At
4:30 pm, all participating troupes will appear at the Brooklyn
Museum of Art, 200 Eastern Parkway.
On Feb 16, at 12:30 pm, troupes will appear at the Old First
Reformed Church at Seventh Avenue at Carroll Street and at the
First Unitarian Church at Pierrepont Street and Monroe Place.
At 1 pm, troupes will appear at the Park Slope Methodist Church,
at Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street. At 2:30 pm, all participating
troupes will appear at the Prospect Park Picnic House, Park Drive
at Third Street.
All performances are free and open to the public. The Brooklyn
Museum performance is free with museum admission: $6, $3 seniors
and students with ID. For more information, call (718) 284-1529.
