Semblance of a Whole

YouTube Debut

I have crossed over to the dark side. I have joined the ranks of thousands of Tay Zonday and Jessica Rose wannabes around the world who have been lured by the bright lights (pixels?) and the promise of fame and fortune. I am on YouTube.

If you know me (or if you have been reading this blog for a while) you know that the most important activity in my life outside of work is Scottish country dancing. You may not know that in addition to Scottish, about a year and half ago, I added a new form of dance to my repertoire: Rapper sword.

Rapper sword is a dance form that originated with miners in northeastern England. The "swords" are actually flexible strips of sprung steel with handles on both ends, originally used for scraping the dirt and sweat from the pit ponies. (Mind you, in case anyone from the Transportation Security Authority is asking, they are not swords but rather "flexible metal dance implements" or "FMDIs.") The dances are usually performed by groups of 5 dancers, who alternate various figures (different ways of weaving, and jumping or flipping over the swords) with percussive footwork called "jigging."

Rapper sword dancing has recently been enjoying an upsurge in popularity among young people, particularly in Boston and other areas of the east coast. During one of my visits to Pinewoods dance camp (see here for more on Pinewoods), I saw a group of teens from the staff perform a rapper dance during an evening party. I knew immediately I wanted to learn to do it myself. The following summer, back at Pinewoods, a class was offered. I quickly discovered it was harder than it looked (most things are), but my enthusiasm was not dampened. Back in Minneapolis, a friend and I succeeded in recruiting three other people and an unsuspecting fiddler to form our own rapper group.

The first thing we determined was that we would wear stripey socks. With that important decision made, we went on to less crucial things like learning how to dance. After a year of practice our group, which is called Duck or Grouse*, made its official public debut last Saturday at a pub crawl organized by Minnesota Short Sword, another rapper team here in the Twin Cities. A friend of one of the dancers made a video of our very first performance. Unfortunately, you can't really see our stripey socks (they are blue and purple!) but the dancing isn't too bad.

*If the name baffles you, this photo may help you understand why we chose it. Still confused? Read the 2nd definition of "grouse" here.