Five dancers, five swords, tumbles, spins, gnarly figures and bostin’ music.  Come and enjoy the thrills of Rapper Sword Dancing as we share our DERT Spotlight Event with you. DERT is the national competition of Rapper Sword Dancing.  Every year, teams from across Britain, and indeed the world, congregate to display their well-honed dancing and sword-handling skills as they compete to be declared the best team in the country. During the day, 20 teams (including 2 teams from North America) will perform in front of our expert judges.  They will be judged on their sword handling, dance technique, stepping, music and buzz factor.  The more excited the audience, the bigger the buzz factor.  At the end of the day, the highest-scoring team will be crowned the Spotlight Champion. DERT started in Derby in 1984, when there was only one dance per team. Now, teams will be rotating around 5 other venues, located in the city centre, where their judged performances will count towards the main DERT competition.  There will also be 4 youth teams competing in their own youth competition: the DERTy Championship. Rapper Sword Dancing This traditional English folk dance from the nineteenth century, originates in the coal mining villages of Northumberland and Durham.  At the end of a hard day down the pits, miners would travel from pub to pub and perform to earn beer money. As the Calling on Song draws your attention to the stage, you’ll notice five dancers, dressed in characteristic hoggers, socks and sashes; connected by five flexible steel Rapper Swords.  The musician strikes up a fast tempo jig, and then the dancers’ feet begin the Tap-pit-ty tap, Tap-pit-ty tap – the distinctive Rapper Shuffle.  The swords go up, and the dancers begin to weave about each other at a tremendous pace, NEVER letting go of the swords.  You’ll be wowed by intricate figure after intricate figure, with spins and tumbles thrown in for good measure.  Watch out for the LOCK; the Tommy will make sure you don’t miss it. Come and enjoy the Buzz!!