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Rapper sword (also known as short sword dance) is a variation of sword dance unique to
Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...
and
County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...
. It emerged from the
pit village A pit village, colliery village or mining village is a settlement built by colliery owners to house their workers. The villages were built on the coalfields of Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution where new coal mines were developed in ...
s of
Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as publishe ...
and Wearside, where
miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting ...
s first performed the tradition. The dance requires five performers who co-ordinate themselves while using "rapper swords" made from flexible steel. Accompanied by
traditional folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
, the dancers wear hard-soled shoes that allow for percussive foot movements. Mental
alertness Alertness is the state of active attention by high sensory awareness such as being watchful and prompt to meet danger or emergency, or being quick to perceive and act. It is related for psychology . A lack of alertness is a symptom of a ...
, in addition to physical
agility Agility or nimbleness is an ability to change the body's position quickly and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance. More specifically, it i ...
, is required in order for dance participants to use the swords effectively without causing harm to themselves or the other performers.


History

Whilst substantial evidence for the origins of the rapper sword tradition does not exist, as of 2012, since the publication of ''Rapper; The miner's Dance of North East England'' by Phil Heaton it is generally accepted that the dance was originally performed in the mining villages of the
Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...
and
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
coalfield in North-East England. The dances derive from a well-defined geographical area with an intensity of activity traced to pits along both the Durham and Northumberland banks of the river Tyne, south into County Durham past Sunderland and along the Northumberland coast. A ''
hilt The hilt (rarely called a haft or shaft) of a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel ...
-and-point'' sword dance also existed in Yorkshire, Cumberland and
Teesdale Teesdale is a dale, or valley, in Northern England. The dale is in the River Tees’s drainage basin, most water flows stem from or converge into said river, including the Skerne and Leven. Upper Teesdale, more commonly just Teesdale, falls b ...
where rigid
longsword A longsword (also spelled as long sword or long-sword) is a type of European sword characterized as having a cruciform hilt with a grip for primarily two-handed use (around ), a straight double-edged blade of around , and weighing approximatel ...
s were used. A documented account of the Yorkshire dance has been located in a 1715 article, in which a fairly accurate description can be read. Later references to sword dancing in the northern counties include a dance described in 1787 in the Cumberland Packet newspaper of January 1788, and a description from Teesdale in 1778, referenced by Hutchinson in his ''View of Northumberland''. At some stage in the nineteenth century, the rigid swords were replaced by flexible rappers in the coalfield. Very little is known about this major development in the tradition because of an absence of sufficient evidence, and it may have been entirely accidental. It used to be commonly thought that the flexible version was used for removing dirt from the backs of pit ponies, but there is no available documentation to verify this theory. It seems that two factors have influenced interpretations of when the rapper sword was introduced: firstly, the relocation of a steel works operation by Ambrose Crowley to the Derwent Valley, before which time it is believed that suitable steel for flexible swords would most likely have been unavailable; and secondly, the prohibitive expense of such instruments before the Bessemer process in 1855 that allowed steel to be made inexpensively. The dance involves five people, with many including characters, such as
Tommy and Betty Tommy and Betty are two roles in rapper sword dance that represent the father and mother of the dancers. The Tommy and Betty often introduce the dance to the audience and seek to engage the audience. As with so many traditional dances in England a ...
, who announce the dance, engage the audience and most importantly, collect money from the onlookers. The performers are connected by short swords bearing two handles, with the handle on at least one end being fixed. The other handle is either fixed or swivelling, based on the preference of the rapper side. The flexible rapper swords form an unbroken chain connecting the dancers. The dance is related to the Long Sword dance of Yorkshire, as well as other sword dances in Europe. Some of the earliest teams used hornpipes, rather than the jigs used in the modern era.


Nineteenth century

During the nineteenth century, teams of rapper dancers from the
pit village A pit village, colliery village or mining village is a settlement built by colliery owners to house their workers. The villages were built on the coalfields of Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution where new coal mines were developed in ...
s of Tyneside and Wearside would travel annually to the towns of
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
,
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
and
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
to perform the dance for the crowds, asking for monetary consideration. This was later revived as a source of income during the miners' strikes and lay-offs, especially when the collieries were closed down over winter. Sword dancers of the North East were also active in the political struggles of the coalfield. A team of Tyneside Rovers were part of an early march on parliament in 1890, and another team from Hebburn were part of the famous Jarrow Crusade in 1936. Teams were also reported all over Durham and Northumberland as dancing out and collecting in the 1926 miners' strike and later in the Great Depression.


Twentieth century

By the early twentieth century, the tradition was beginning to die out, but was revived by the interest generated after
Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English-born collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was the pre-eminent activist in the development of t ...
published notations for five of the traditional village dances in his book, ''The Sword Dances of Northern England''. After the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, 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. After the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, the tradition progressively declined in the original pit villages, partly as a result of social changes in the mining communities. However, another revival was initiated after the war, in 1949 by students at Kings College in Newcastle upon Tyne (now the
University of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...
), which subsequently spread beyond the traditional area. Revival teams worldwide now perform the rapper tradition, sometimes learned from published notations, sometimes taught by rapper dancers in what is almost a continuation of the earlier oral traditions.


Twenty-first century

The dance has transformed as it moved into the twenty-first century: the pace has quickened and is performed at around 140–160 beats per minute, with different team styles using different rates. It is nonetheless typically 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 the swords. The dance is now almost always performed to jigs (perhaps 90% of the time), with the normal form of rapper stepping being a form of shuffle imported from the local
clogging Clogging is a type of folk dance practiced in the United States, in which the dancer's footwear is used percussively by striking the heel, the toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible rhythms, usually to the downbeat with the ...
tradition. The jigs used include local tunes and many instruments can, and have been, used to accompany rapper dances (the most popular being fiddles, tin whistles and accordions or melodeons). Many rapper jigs used for the last hundred years are tunes, probably imported by Irish and Scottish immigrants to Tyneside in the nineteenth century. The music is usually performed solo, although it can be performed as a duet; however, rapper is not usually performed to a band. There is much controversy in the rapper community over the use of any form of percussion to accompany rapper beyond the rapper stepping included in the dance. In modern times, the competitive element of rapper sword dancing has been revived in the form of the
Dancing England Rapper Tournament The Dancing England Rapper Tournament (DERT) is a continuation of the most significant rapper sword dance competitions that were held in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the centre of the coalfields where the dance originated. The modern annual weeke ...
(DERT) competition, and in recent years its American counterpart, Dancing America Rapper Tournament (DART).


Costume

The costume in which the dance is usually performed, referred to as the ''kit'', is a stylised version of the working clothes of the local nineteenth century coal miner (''see photograph''). It consists of a shirt;
sash A sash is a large and usually colorful ribbon or band of material worn around the body, either draping from one shoulder to the opposing hip and back up, or else running around the waist. The sash around the waist may be worn in daily attire, bu ...
; '' breeks'' (breeches), ''hoggers'' (similar to breeks but shorter), or long trousers; and socks or stockings. Some traditional teams decorated their kit with ribbons or rosettes, and added a tie and/or waistcoat. 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.


Performances


Dancing in pubs

Unlike Cotswold Morris and other forms of traditional dance, Rapper Sword is often performed inside pubs, with 'rapper crawls', often on Friday nights, providing an opportunity for the general public (including those who have little interest in folk dance traditions) to see the dance being performed. Performances in busy, noisy pubs in front of an audience which may not be familiar with the tradition provides an opportunity for the comic characters, the
Tommy and Betty Tommy and Betty are two roles in rapper sword dance that represent the father and mother of the dancers. The Tommy and Betty often introduce the dance to the audience and seek to engage the audience. As with so many traditional dances in England a ...
(although often just the Tommy) to explain the dance and engage with the audience.


Dancing at folk festivals

Rapper sword teams also appear at folk festivals across the UK such as
Sidmouth Folk Festival There has been a folk festival in the coastal town of Sidmouth in South West England in the first week of August every year since 1955, attracting tens of thousands of visitors to over 700 diverse events. Sidmouth Folk Festival offers a wide r ...
.


DERT competition

The
Dancing England Rapper Tournament The Dancing England Rapper Tournament (DERT) is a continuation of the most significant rapper sword dance competitions that were held in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the centre of the coalfields where the dance originated. The modern annual weeke ...
(DERT) competition, which is open to all rapper sword teams, is held annually in a different UK city or town by a different Rapper side. The tournament initially comprised 3 divisions: Premier, Championship and Open, with a youth competition, 'DERTy', subsequently added. A further class, 'Traditional dance', was also introduced to highlight the original recorded dances and the style they were performed in. In 2020, the competition was postponed due to
COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...
. The DERT 2021 competition, due to be held in Edinburgh on 26–28 March 2021, was also cancelled due to COVID-19.


Further information

The Rapper Online website provides information on the origins and history of the dance, team profiles and notations of traditional dances. Current and historical information is also available at "The NUT on the Net", the Internet edition of "The NUT", the journal of the rapper sword dance. Leading exponents of the tradition in its traditional area include the High Spen Blue Diamonds, the Newcastle Kingsmen, Monkseaton Morris Men, the Sallyport Sword Dancers and Star and Shadow. In addition to the Rapper Online website's list of rapper sword teams the Sword Dance Union has produced a map of current UK teams. Rapper dancing has gained international popularity. Jack The Rapper, based in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
, attended DERT in 1996, 1999 and 2003. The DERT 2005 and 2006 competitions were attended by four teams from the United States, named, Newhaven, Candyrapper (2005), Beside the Point (2006) and Scrambled Six (2007). Red Mum Rapper from
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...
competed in DERTs 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018. The Pocket Flyers (USA) attended DERT 2015 in Bristol. Rapper teams also exist in Australia, Germany and the Basque Country of France.


See also

* Earsdon Sword Dance


References

'Rapper: The miner's Dance of North East England'' Phil Heaton, EFDSS 2012


External links


Rapper Online

The Sword Dance Union

The NUT on the Net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rapper Sword Rapper sword Morris dance Northumbrian folklore County Durham folklore