Thursday, July 21, 2011

Sword Dance

These girls were dancing the sword dance, which is about my favorite right now. (This should work better on this blog page than the last time I tried to post it, this is via youtube). These girls were dancing on the street in Stornoway.
This, which I have been told is the oldest highland dance, is the Gillie Chalium (Sword Dance) which dates from the time of King Malcolm Canmore (1058-1093). Defeating an adversary in battle, he is said to have laid his sword over that of his defeated opponent in the sign of the cross, and executed a dance of victory over them. The feet must be placed close to the swords, but must never touch them.

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