Come and join in a 200 year old tradition!

We can trace the Grenoside Sword Dancers back almost 200 years, though it's possibly much older. Why is so long lasting? Sword dancing is fun to do! All you need is general level of fitness, and anyone is welcome to come and join us. We practice every alternate Wednesday and Thursday evening, at Grenoside Reading Room on School Lane, Grenoside, just off the A61. We're a mixed team to suit all ages.

Boxing Day

Our traditional day of dance. We perform the dance at 11am sharp on Main Street outside the Old Harrow Inn every Boxing Day. The only exception is if Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, in which case we dance instead on Monday. 2021 was such an occasion, but we danced that Sunday in Handsworth, and the Handsworth Traditional Sword Dancers joined us on Boxing Day for the first time ever.

The next time this will happen is in 2027. Perhaps we can repeat it!

Dave Brookes

In 2021 Dave celebrated his 50th consecutive Boxing Day with the team. Sadly, Dave passed away in 2022, having performed his last dance out with team during the annual January traipse. He attended practices right up until the end. He will be sadly missed

Boxing Day 2020

In 2020, our Boxing Day performance did not take place as usual because of Covid-19 restrictions. A few of us made an appearance outside the Old Harrow Inn on Main Street at 11am as usual, but our usual performance did not take place.

Instead we paid tribute to Gerry Bates who was an important member of the team for almost 50 years, and who sadly died at the end of November 2020.

This video was in lieu of our usual Boxing Day performance.

Welcome to the Grenoside Sword Dancers website. If you would like to have a go at sword dancing, please come along to one of our practices every other Thursday at 8:30pm, at Grenoside Reading Room. All are welcome!

Who are we?

Grenoside Sword Dancers is a traditional sword dancing team that has its origins going back at least 150 years, though it is probably much older. The team consists of six dancers, a captain and one or more musicians. Each dancer holds a sword by the hilt in his right hand, and the tip of the sword in his left hand that belongs to the dancer to his left. Then an intricate dance is performed where the swords are held for the most part in an unbroken chain.

What is our dance?

The Grenoside Sword Dance is a unique sword dance. Although many of the moves it contains can be found in other sword dances, the dancers wear clogs and perform a breakstep between figures. The dance also features the ritual 'beheading' of the captain near the beginning of the dance.

We also have our Six Jolly Miners, and Six Tommy Soldiers dances, commemorating those lost in mining accidents, and in the two world wars, and we are always keen to develop new dance ideas.

What do we do?

You can find us every Boxing Day at 11am outside The Old Harrow Inn on Main Street, Grenoside, but we also do much more than that! We reguarly perform at local events, national and international festivals, and competitions. We also perform on our annual 'traipse' around Grenoside village, on the first Saturday after the first Sunday in January - so in 2018 this is the 13th. In 2010 we celebrated the centenary of folk archivist Cecil Sharp's visit to collect the Grenoside dance with a number of special events and shows, including the acclaimed 'To Slay a Bullock' which we devised and performed with the Newcastle Kingsmen Sword Dancers. In 2014 we performed at a number of events on and around the Tour de France route as part of the cultural festival, and performed in Grenoside when the Tour passed through the village.