{"id":4195,"date":"2014-08-03T21:05:51","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T21:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/?p=4195"},"modified":"2014-08-03T21:05:51","modified_gmt":"2014-08-03T21:05:51","slug":"sword-dancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/stage-combat-2\/sword-dancing\/","title":{"rendered":"Sword Dancing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are morris dancers annoying? Does dance include kata and choreographed kung fu fights? Let\u2019s examine some sword dances from around the world for a quick comparison.<\/p>\n<h2>Machete Dance<\/h2>\n<p>One of my stage combat students recently introduced me to a traditional Mexican dance in which each dancer wields two machetes. They clang them together, and even toss them to each other like jugglers.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The machete dance.\" width=\"620\" height=\"465\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7CF5Pon9Bf8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Like me, you\u2019ve probably heard of other sword dances from around the world. <\/p>\n<h2>Scottish Sword Dance<\/h2>\n<p>The form that I am most familiar with is the Scottish Sword Dance, which is a solo dance with crossed swords on the floor.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pjXYfDax_-0<\/p>\n<h2>Morris Dancing<\/h2>\n<p>Much maligned by many English, and unknown in much of the world, morris dancing probably dates back to medieval dances and has official recording to the 17th century. Cotswold morris includes sticks and handkerchiefs to accompany the hand movements, but other varieties include Longsword dancing and \u201cRapper\u201d from Nothumberland which includes short, flexible steel swords.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bridgetown Morris Men - Longsword\" width=\"620\" height=\"465\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cVf1_9BCOQ4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>For more on European sword dances, check out this blog: <a href=\"http:\/\/starofswords.wordpress.com\/\">http:\/\/starofswords.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Arab Sword Dances<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Iraqi National Troupe of Folk Art - Folkloric Men&#039;s Sword Dance\" width=\"620\" height=\"465\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BHntjxCivBA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nThere are many other cultures that feature sword dances, some of them with authentic blades, and most of them with blunt replicas or merely symbolic blades. In the Ottoman Empire, sword dancing was outlawed for a time as it was believed that the swords recovered from war were being claimed by dancers, and the sultan was afraid they were organizing a revolt.<\/p>\n<h2>Chinese Forms<\/h2>\n<p>Wu Shu and Tai Chi are martial arts that include many weapons, including straight and curved swords, spears and poles. Although some may argue the point, I\u2019d say that a choreographed demonstration, whether by one performer or a group, should be considered a dance. If music is involved, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any controversy.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"2010 ASIAN GAMES- Taiji  Wushu Jian (Sword)- CHAI FONG YING\" width=\"620\" height=\"465\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uTyJKPHk13E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Some may argue that the choreographed forms are merely part of the training of a fighter, I\u2019d say that other sword dances that we\u2019ve seen also include this aspect. All of these dances were either part of training with a sword, or celebrating and commemorating battles that permitted their culture to survive.<\/p>\n<p>Gaining full mastery over your motion, including the most effective ways of using various weapons, is a goal of stage combat, martial arts and many forms of dance. I love teaching dancers how to fight because they already have knowledge of their posture and motion, they take direction and incorporate even small changes with mindfulness, and they remember choreography easily.<\/p>\n<h2>Certification in September<\/h2>\n<p>Our next stage combat certification course, <strong>Combat Acting<\/strong>, will begin on 15-September and run for 8 weeks to give you over 60 hours of training and practice with sword, quarterstaff and unarmed fighting. Actors who want to become action heroes for film, TV, or live performance should sign up for one of the limited spots. <a href=\"http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/FDCatAD\">Read more here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are morris dancers annoying? Does dance include kata and choreographed kung fu fights? Let\u2019s examine some sword dances from around the world for a quick comparison. Machete Dance One of my stage combat students recently introduced me to a traditional Mexican dance in which each dancer wields two machetes. They clang them together, and even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stage-combat-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/sword-dance-bagpipe.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4195"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4195"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4201,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4195\/revisions\/4201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfighting.ca\/combat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}