The Southport Swords will be in Liverpool this Saturday 15th May for their annual Day of Dance with the following guest teams gathered from near and far:Argarmeles Clog, Addlington Morris, Brigate Morris, Britannia Coconut Dancers, Clerical Error, The Earl of Stamford Morris, Heage Windmillers, Horwich Prize Medal Morris, Inclognito, Leeds Morris, Milltown Cloggies, Mucky Mountain Morris, Newburgh Morris P.R.A.T.S. Longsword, Rochdale Morris, Saddleworth Clog & Garland, Waters Green Morris, White Rose Morris, Yorkshire Chandelier.
Venues for the displays will be the Albert Dock, Liverpool One, Williamson Square and Church Street. Several teams of dancers will perform simultaneously at these venues between 10.30am and 4pm.
All the sides will gather together for a massed display from 4.30pm until about 6.00pm in Church Street.
The picture shows a sword lock. Long sword dances often conclude with the swords being arranged in such a lock, which is then held aloft.
I had never seen sword dancing before I went to Hastings this May Day-- they were by far my favourite of the dancers. Totally mesmerizing! I would love to be at this event but I am in hospice training this weekend.
ReplyDeleteIt was great day, Impy. Various styles of dance, including: swords, clogs, Cotswold (the hankies!), North West, and so on. There were all male teams, mixed teams and all women teams, including a couple of young teams ~ young women seem less inhibited about dressing up in morris kit than young lads. The sun shone all day and a few Liverpool pubs had to be visited, where some of the dancers began dancing again, often from different teams at once. Liverpudlians seemed to love it, especially little kids.
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