A local Rapper team showing the five dancers, musician (back row) and the Tommy and Betsy (front row)
The
Rapper Sword Dance is a tradition which developed in the coalfields of the North East of England. A
Rapper team consists of five dancers linked together by holding flexible strips of steel. They perform intricate patterns and figures at a swift pace which are punctuated by phases of 'stepping'. There is also a musician and a pair of characters (often known as the Tommy and the Betty) who act as the parental figures of the dancers. It is their job to relate the dance to the audience and to collect money during the performance.
