The dance can be seen here: Or through searching on youtube for Newcastle Kingsmen DERT 2011 rapper sword

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "The dance can be seen here: Or through searching on youtube for Newcastle Kingsmen DERT 2011 rapper sword"

Arnold Elliott
5 years ago
Views:

1 Swearsdell This dance was first written for the To Slay a Bullock project which was created to commemorate Cecil Sharp s first isit to Tyneside in 1910 and the subsequent publication of The Sword Dances of Northern England Volume 1 in January The project was performed by the Grenoside Sword Dancers and the Newcastle Kingsmen at a ariety of locations during The dance is a fusion of Cecil Sharp s notations of the Swalwell and Earsdon rapper sword dances as published in the 1911 book. It was slightly reised in 2011 during the Newcastle Kingsmen s preparations for DERT in Oxford where they went on to win the Premier Class. The dance can be seen here: Or through searching on youtube for Newcastle Kingsmen DERT 2011 rapper sword Music Seeral tunes hae been used for this dance but all of them hae been name checked by Sharp or Ethel Angel in arious notations of Earsdon. The speed of the dance has been recorded at c.180bpm howeer due to the nature of the dance this speed fluctuates in both directions throughout. The highest speed it has reached was 192bpm. Stepping The stepping is largely the same as standard rapper stepping ie single and double shuffles. The complete step is done in blocks of 16 beats but this is sometimes shortened to blocks of 8 depending on where the music is, there is always a break on beat 16. The dancers drop onto the right foot on beat 16 and then do a double shuffle, two singles, a double, two singles, a double, two singles, a double, one single and a break. On occasions when the stepping starts on beat 4 or beat 12 of a bar, the dancers step for 4 single beats with a break before starting the double and single sequence. There are some exceptions to this stepping throughout the dance which are specifically mentioned below. The dancers also run or trot for the entirety of the dance and should always keep their feet moing in time to the music, een when doing puker turns or spins. The Dance Please note, these notations assume a basic leel of knowledge about simple rapper figures without this, it would be een more complex! The dancers stand in a circle facing in, numbered anticlockwise around the set. When the music starts the dancers raise their swords and step for 16 beats. They then walk round and clash on beat number 5, bringing their swords down on the inside shoulder and link up. First Figure From the walkround position eerybody Curly to the back of the set, no3 follows no4. No2 and no4 then do two complete Curly circuits whilst no5, no1 and no3 do a complete Fig8 circuit, no5 crossing in front of no1. Following this, eeryone immediately goes into a Mary Ann and no3 starts to step in 4s. No1 and no2 cross inside of no5 and no4 at the back of the set and then cross outside of them at

2 the front of the set. At the end of the Mary Ann circuit (ie the small circles done in front of no3) no2 and no4 stop in the Coach & Horses position in front of no3 and join in the stepping in 4s. No1 and no5 then begin a second circuit of Mary Ann, no1 crossing inside of no5 at the back of the set and outside at the front. Howeer, after crossing at the front of the set, they do not do the smaller turns in front of no2 and no4, but rather keep moing as though to do another circuit and stand behind no2 and no4, side by side with no3. As soon as this has happened, no2 and no4 turn out and head on a second Mary Ann loop around the three static dancers, no2 inside at the back and outside at the front. They mirror the moement of no1 and no5 and stand behind the other dancers, effectiely in Coach & Horses. Once they hae done this, no3 comes forward and round to their left and back to place, they then head through the middle of the set and turn anticlockwise to fasten the lock. Meanwhile, no1, no2, no4 and no5 tie a lock as normal from a Coach & Horses position with the exception that no4 and no5 turn out into the lock (rather than slip) and no1 and no2 do two turns (a puker spin) into the lock, rather than simply turning out. Chorus #1 The lock is fastened with the swords still held high. At no point in this chorus section are the swords lowered below head height. As soon as the lock is tied, no1 picks it up. All dancers put their left hands on the right shoulder of the person in front of them and the dancers trot round with the lock in the air. At the start of the next 16 beats, the lock is lowered to head height and the dancers take hold of the swords and step. This is the same after eery figure. The break out of the lock is different for eery figure. Without lowering the swords, no2 turns out clockwise and the other dancers follow to untie back in to a walkround. The exception is that at the same time no1 turns out anticlockwise and does a Single Guard type moement around the set and back in to place. Only no1 does a single guard moement. After each figure, a different dancer does this moement there are 6 figures and 5 choruses meaning that each dancer gets their own moment of glory. Second figure From the walkround position, no1 and no5 begin to Curly. No2, no3 and no4 respectiely follow no1 on one loop of a Curly, before crossing oer to follow no5, and then crossing back to follow no1 (like a big snaking Fig8). After these three circuits, no4 crosses back oer to follow no5 for the final Curly. Immediately that this occurs, the dancers will perform the Rafally figure from Earsdon. *I will try to describe this as it makes no sense in the Sharp notation The aim is to do a couple of Curlys with the set orientated sideways on, as the audience look at the dance the Curly would moe from left to right. (ie the set has rotated 45degrees anticlockwise)* From what is essentially Coach & Horses (but mid Curly) no4 dies under no1 s sword and heads round to their left, outside of no2 and no3. Meanwhile, no5 turns out to their right and faces towards the new up of the set. No1 turns to their right and stands next to no5. No2 moes around no1 and stands behind them, no4 moes to stand behind no5. No3 follows no2 at all times. The set now looks like this: No3> No4> No2> No5> No1> With the set in this position, eerybody does 2 Curly circuits with no3 following no2.

3 To tie the lock, no5 turns to their left and puts in a puker spin. No1 follows no5 but does not spin. No4 moes under no1 s sword and slips round the outside of the set clockwise until they reach no5. No2 and no3 stand next to no1 respectiely after no4 has moed. The lock should now fasten. Chorus #2 Run round displaying the lock as before, then step as before. This time it is no2 s turn to do the Single Guard. This means that in essence, no3 leads the break out of the lock by turning out clockwise. All other dancers follow them except no2 who follows no1. This is the quickest of all of the breakouts and single guard sequences and does not look like no2 has done anything at all. Third Figure After the walkround, the dancers stop at the front in a Coach & Horses and step. They then do the figure Old Fiddler (see arious Kingsmen and Earsdon notations for the positions of this figure) howeer the timing is different as each moement is done in 2 beats. Moe on beats 1 and 2, do one single shuffle on beats 3 and 4 etc. The only exception to this is when the dancer is moing to the no3 position of the Coach & Horses shape. For this moement the dancer takes 4 beats to get there and does not put in the single shuffle step. At the penultimate moe when the dancers are positioned as below: No5 No3 No2 No1 No4 Eerybody returns back to their place in Coach & Horses but then immediately moe into a Fixy position (no4 has got a long way to run in not ery much time): No4 No2 No3 ^ ^ No5 No1 The swords are oer the shoulders of no3 and no5 s sword is bowed across no3 s chest. The dancers step to the end of the phrase and then the swords raise in the air and no2 and no4 swap places, no2 in front of no4. This puts the display on no3 s chest as a haymarket. No1 and no5 remain facing away from the audience. The figure is turned around clockwise with a break step before returning to position. To tie up, no3 moes forwards and to their left before heading to the back of the set and through the middle (in exactly the same way they tied up in the first figure). No1 picks up no3 and follows into a lock, no2 picks up no1. No5 turns out to mirror no1 and Curlys to the back of the set

4 before turning back in on themseles anticlockwise to tie the lock (there is no need to do this but it just looks nicer). No4 crosses the set and turns in to face the centre and the lock should fasten. Chorus #3 Run round displaying the lock as before, then step as before. No2 turns clockwise out of the lock and eerybody follows into a walkround with the exception of no3. No3 moes forward (without turning) to follow no1 and then slots back in to place behind no2. Essentially, whilst all other dancers are doing a clockwise circuit, no3 is doing an anticlockwise one. Fourth Figure From the walkround on beat number 1 of the phrase of music, all dancers raise their swords and turn fully clockwise on the spot before continuing in the walkround this time with the swords crossed. The dancers then do the Swalwell figure Right and Left. This is where no1 turns out and heads to the back of the set, followed by no3. No5 continues to do the walkround but is followed by no2 and then no4. The dancers do a Fig8 moement crossing in the order no5, no1, no2, no3, no4. To tie up, eeryone heads back to their own side (ie no2 stops following no5 and follows no1). Howeer, this figure also inoles a puker. No1 does a puker turn from their initial turn out, before they hae een begun the Fig8 sequence. All of the other dancers begin to do their puker turns once they hae crossed oer (ie on the wrong side of the set). Whilst no1 een does the puker turn to fasten the lock, it is important that no3 does not puker on their last circuit, this is because if they do, the lock will not fasten without them needing to spin counter-intuitiely into the lock. Chorus #4 Run round displaying the lock as before, then step as before. No2 turns clockwise out of the lock and eerybody follows into a walkround with the exception of no4. No4 moes forward (without turning) to follow no1 and then slots back in to place behind no3. Fifth Figure The dancers walkround until no5 has their back to the audience. The dancers then sweep the swords out in to an open ring and do single shuffles, not the double step as described aboe. At the start of the new phrase of music, no1 double footed jumps oer no5 s sword, spins fully anticlockwise on the spot and runs around the entire set anticlockwise back to position. All other dancers close in together to shorten the distance for no1. This takes 12 beats, the dancers step for 4 beats. At the start of the next phrase, no2 moes forwards and double footed jumps oer no4 s sword before moing round the set anticlockwise back to place. This takes 8 beats and the dancers then step for the remaining 8 beats. No3 repeats no1 s moement by jumping oer no2 s sword. No4 repeats no2 s moement by jumping oer no1 s sword. At the start of the next phrase, no1 single footed jumps oer no3 s sword and moes clockwise round to place, then no2 jumps oer no4 s sword, no3 oer no5 s sword and no4 oer no1 s sword. This is done quickly with no1 landing on beat 2 of the phrase, no2 landing on beat 6, no3 on beat 10 and no4 on beat 14. Immediately no4 begins to moe, no5 turns anticlockwise around the back of no1 and tumbles oer their sword. After the tumble, all dancers step in an open ring before no5 turns clockwise to stand between no4 and no3 to tumble oer no3 s sword. After the tumble, all dancers step in an open ring before no5 jumps oer no2 s sword and the tumbles back oer it. All dancers tie up as normal. The three tumble positions are as below:

5 First tumble: Second tumble: Third tumble: No4> <No3 No2> <No1 ^ <No2 No3> No3 No5 No2 No5> <No5 <No1 No4> ^ ^ No4 No1 The timing for the tumbles works as follows: First Tumble: No4, no3 and no5 step for 4 beats. No5 tumbles and lands in 4 beats. All dancers step in an open ring for 4 beats. All dancers moe in to the position for the second tumble in 4 beats. Second Tumble: No2, no1 and no5 step for 4 beats. No5 tumbles and lands in 4 beats. All dancers step in an open ring for 4 beats. All dancers moe in to the position for the third tumble in 4 beats. Third Tumble: No4, no1 and no5 step for 4 beats. No5 tumbles and lands in 4 beats. All dancers immediately tie up without stepping. Chorus #5 Run round displaying the lock as before, then step as before. No2 turns clockwise out of the lock and eerybody follows into a walkround with the exception of no5. No5 moes forward (without turning) to follow no1 and then slots back in to place behind no4. Sixth Figure The dancers walkround until no1 reaches the front of the set. At this point, all dancers drop their swords to waist height and continue moing. Once no1 reaches the back of the set (usually 4 beats later) no4 turns out anticlockwise and stands between no5 and no1. No3 continues their moement to stand between no2 and no1 and the swords are lowered. No2 and no5 can close in towards each other and then back out to place to help no3 and no4. This whole moement takes 8 beats. The dancers are now in a straight line: No2 No3 No1 No4 No5 Once in this position the dancers step. With the music, no3 and no4 double foot jump oer the swords of the other dancers (ie no3 oer no1 s sword and no4 oer no5 s). They land oer the swords on beat 2 and then jump back oer immediately landing on beat4. The dancers all step for 4 beats. No1 then does the same jump oer no3 s sword landing on beat 10 and back oer on beat 12. All dancers step for the remaining 4 beats of the phrase. To tie up, all the swords raise up and no1 takes a step forward and turns around anticlockwise. Meanwhile, no5 turns anticlockwise on the spot and the lock should fasten. No1 takes it and stands in the middle of the line, no2 and no3 swap places so that the line out is in the order:

6 No3 No2 No1 No4 No5 The dancers then do the double/single step for the remaining 24 beats without the break on the 16 and finish the final 2 beats of the dance with a 4 foot stamp as in High Spen. Left, Right, Left, Right. All dancers turn left and walk calmly off with no1 still holding the lock high. It is important not to look tired, as if you could do it all again immediately!

THE NORTH WALBOTTLE SWORD DANCE

THE NORTH WALBOTTLE SWORD DANCE This notation was originally published by Cecil Sharp in 19131 Walbottle is a suburb of Newcastle-on-Tyne. The sword dance, which is now annually performed at Christmas-time,