History In Sheffield: Pt 11

As it turns out, Sheffield hosted a folk dance festival yesterday. All sorts of traditional dance troupes gathered around points in the city and performed for the public. The one I was most interested in were the Handsworth Traditional Sword Dancers.

This particular form of sword dancing originated on the continent during the Napoleonic era. In England, it seems to be isolated to the Yorkshire area with several regional twists. The Handsworth group seems to be the most tradtional with an up tempo act. I also know that their uniforms are replicas of those in the earliest photographs taken in the mid 1800s.

Here they are performing their dance. If you see subliminal messaging in my video, I don't know what you're talking about!