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Durham and Northumberland Rapper The North Eastern Counties of England have their own distinctive and traditional forms of dance. The old counties of Durham and Northumberland are the home of Rapper. Five men, linked by short, double-handled strips of spring steel, move at high speed weaving the five ‘rappers’ through knots and patterns. The rappers, often referred to as swords, are tied into a star and held on high, sometimes at the beginning and always at the end of the dance. Many early mining villages and North Eastern coastal communities had such a dance. Many ‘traditions’ were failing by the turn of the 1900’s. Some, noted by such men as Cecil. J. Sharp, continued as ‘revived’ traditions. A few continue as ‘received’ traditions , passed down by word of mouth, often through families and named after the villages of their origin. Durham City: The Market Place:

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The Rams present especially the dance received from Hamsteels Colliery. Longer and more intricate than most Rapper dances, it was performed from 1924 into the early 1930’s in and around Hamsteels Colliery and Esh Winning; pit villages to the West of Durham. It was developed by men whose working lives involved, and often depended upon being able to rig rope-work braids, lifting tackle and knots. Already experienced in figure-work of earlier traditions, they compiled one of the most sophisticated forms of the dance. Whitsun Bank Holiday Monday, 2003. The Rams visited Kettlewell at as guests of Leeds Morris Men.

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