Dirk dance
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A Scottish dance recorded by J. F. & T. M. Flett in their book, Traditional Step-Dancing in Scotland, taught to them by Mary Isdale Mac Nab of Vancouver. She in turn had learned the dance from Scottish piping & dance champion, D.C. Mather in the 1900's. It is a solo dance but could be performed in unison by two or more dancers brandishing dirks. The dance is quite different in style from the better known Highland dances and in many ways imitates the use of a dirk in fighting. Research suggests that the dance may, in fact, have originated as a series of moves for training in the use of the dirk.
Highland dance was also performed with other weapons including the Lochaber axe, the broadsword, targe & dirk and the flail. The Highland Dirk Dance, resembles a combative dance similar to those of Indonesian Penjak Silat, which has the performer executing knife techniques combined with wrestling style kicks, trips and sweeps. One version of the dance involved attacking and defensive techniques with single-sticks and targe shields and was last performed in Britain in 1850 by two brothers named MacLennan, one of which was a colleague of Mr Mather.
Another Dirk Dance, now lost, involved two dancers, in this dance one is 'killed' with the dirk, but then resurrected by his/her sorrowful partner.
A dirk dance from the Isle of Man in which the dancer wields a dagger, was recovered by Manx folk researcher, Mona Douglas.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Scottish Combat Academy article on the dirk dance
- A book containing some discussion of the Dirk Dance in context of knife fighting
- Restoring to Use Our Almost Forgotten Dances: The Collection and Revival of Manx Folk Song and Dance by Mona Douglas
