Four man sword lock

[watervole]

 Here's the first picture of Southern Star longsword.




I know we'll often have different numbers of dancers, so I'm working on sword locks for different numbers of dancers.  This is a sword lock for four (in fact the only possible lock for four - anything else would fall apart).

You can see two more photos (including a six man lock) on the Southern Star Longsword website along with pictures of longsword dancers in Lingdale, Yorkshire in the 1960s.

Comments

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Wow. Well, this longsword dancing is really complex!

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Some moves can get a bit mathematical. The locks in particular. There are a number of different ones. We know what all the possible combinations are, but not always how to make them (sitting down and weaving the swords in and out by hand is considered to be cheating).

Czech sword dances don't have locks because your swords are different.

Other moves can also be complicated because all the dancers are weaving and turning in different directions.

Some are nic