2019

TG2308 : Pateley Longsword dancing in Castle Street

taken 5 years ago, near to Norwich, Norfolk, England

Pateley Longsword dancing in Castle Street
Pateley Longsword dancing in Castle Street
Performing at Norwich today, together with 23 other groups at different locations in the city, where all types of Morris and traditional dance was on display at various spots, including Cotswold and Border Morris, Sword dancing and North West Clog dancing. Depicted here are the Pateley Longsword Morris dancers.

Pateley Longsword was formed in 2004 by experienced dancers from other Morris traditions. All their longsword dances are devised by group members. The side (ie group) intersperses the longsword with other dances such as a Basque dance or a Border Morris dance. They are based at Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale, designated an area of outstanding natural beauty, with the nearest towns being Harrogate and Ripon in North Yorkshire.

Although commonly referred to as 'Sword' dancing, there are two distinct forms. The sword of the north east of England tends to be a double-handled flexible metal strip known as a rapper. In Yorkshire the implement is more sword-like, being single-handled, and rigid and called a longsword (the latter is used by the dancers depicted). The dance basically consists of six or eight men in a circle, each holding the end of his neighbours sword. They perform circling and intertwining figures without breaking the circle or letting go the swords, except at the climax of the dance when the swords are interlocked to form the so-called lock, which is then held aloft.  Longsword dancers do not wear bells.
Morris dancing

Morris dance is a type of English folk dance . It is usually accompanied by music and based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, frequently wearing bell pads on their shins and wielding sticks, swords or handkerchiefs. The earliest known and surviving English written mention of Morris dance dates from 1448 and records the payment of seven shillings to Morris dancers by the Goldsmiths’ Company in London. 

The name was first recorded in the mid-15th century as Morisk dance, moreys daunce, morisse daunce. The modern spelling 'Morris'-dance first appears in the 17th century. It would seem that the dance became part of performances for the lower classes by the later 16th century, and in 1600 the Shakespearean actor William Kempe Morris-danced all the way from London to Norwich - an event chronicled in his 'Nine Daies Wonder'. By the mid 17th century, the working peasantry is documented to have taken part in Morris dances, and Morris dancing continued in popularity until the industrial revolution.

A number of English folklorists were responsible for recording and reviving the tradition in the early 20th century, often from a bare handful of surviving members of mid-19th-century village sides. The most notable among these are Cecil Sharp, Maud Karpeles, and Mary Neal. In the first few decades of the 20th century, several men’s sides were formed, and in 1934 the Morris Ring was founded by six revival sides. In the 1950s and especially the 1960s, there was an explosion of new dance teams, some of them women’s or mixed sides. At the time, there was often heated debate over the propriety and even legitimacy of women dancing the Morris, despite there being evidence from as far back as the 16th century that there had always also been female Morris dancers.

Historically, Morris dancing music is believed to have been played on loud and rhythmical instruments of the time such as the pipe and tabor. Today, the music is often played on accordion, melodeon and concertina, the so-called "free-reed instruments," but fiddle and flute can also often be heard, together with percussion instruments such as the tambourine, tabor and bass drum.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Evelyn Simak and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: City, Town centre People, Events
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Norwich [2712] · Street [1498] · Display [462] Other Photos: · Pateley Longsword - musicians Title Clusters: · Pateley Longsword dancing in Castle Street [5] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
+
+
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
TIP: Click the map for more Large scale mapping
Grid Square
TG2308, 6226 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Evelyn Simak   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Saturday, 14 September, 2019   (more nearby)
Submitted
Sunday, 15 September, 2019
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TG 2306 0853 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:37.7198N 1:17.6711E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TG 2305 0853
View Direction
EAST (about 90 degrees)
Clickable map
+
NW N NE
W Go E
SW S SE
Image Type (about): close look 
This page has been viewed about 35 times
You are not logged in login | register