Genesis
White Star was formed at the
beginning of 1986 from members of the Hartley Morris Men. The interest
in sword dancing came about as a result of one of the Hartley men, Brian
Tasker, moving to the north of
History
Hartley practise in Wrotham and the
sword side was initially called The Wrotham White Star Sword Dancers.
The “White Star” part of the name being borrowed from the old Winlaton
White Star side in Durham. We moved our practice venue several times and
the “Wrotham” part of the name became irrelevant so we dropped it and
became simply the White Star Sword Dancers
We were
very active for many years. New members came from other sword and
Cotswold sides and we also recruited a few members with no previous
experience at all. We danced out at local pubs during the winter months
and twice we competed at Dert, the annual Dancing England Rapper
Tournament. We also performed at the the first Sword Spectacular which
was held in Scarborough in 1996 and again when it was held in
About five
years ago numbers started to dwindle and it looked as if the side might
fold. Our continued existence is entirely due to the annual plough tour
which we had established in our part of West
Plough Tour
Every January we invite other sides
to join us on what is in effect a travelling folk festival around some
local pubs. The tour features sword dancing, mumming, handbell ringing,
a hooden horse play, clog dancing, singing and anything else those
present can perform. The event has become part of the Christmas calendar
for many people and we were pressed to continue with it even if we
dropped the rest of our programme. So this is how we have continued
dancing in recent years.
Kit
Our original kit was white shirt,
black breeches, pleated blue cummerbund, blue bow tie, white socks and
black shoes. The inspiration for this was the picture of Earsdon
published in Cecil Sharp’s book, The Sword Dances of Northern England.
This kit was fine for dance events but made it difficult to relate to
the audience on pub tours, so in 1996 we changed to black trousers and a
colourful waistcoat of each dancers own choice.
Repertoire
We have always danced collected
dances. This is not because we have any problem with new dances but
because with a side made up of people with no previous experience it was
easier to stick with tried and tested dances. Over the years we have
danced the rapper dances from Newbiggin, Winlaton and High Spen and the
longsword dances from Boosbeck and Escrick.
The Future
In 2007 the
side will celebrate its 21st anniversary. The plough tour
will take place as normal over the weekend of 5/7 January and as it will
be a special occasion we have invited Sallyport and Castleford to join
us in addition to some of the sides who have toured with us before.
The membership of the current side
still includes a number of Hartley men. Hartley have recently recruited
two young dancers who have expressed the wish to join us, so we have
decided to restart regular practices. We are also going to work on a new
dance of our own which we hope to be able to dance out on the plough
tour. We are also going to revert to our original kit.
Tonbridge (Geoff Metcalf) Ring
Meeting
Together with the Hartley and the
Ravensbourne Morris men, White Star are hosting a meeting of the Morris
Ring over the weekend of 31 August/2 September 2007. All three sides are
committed to presenting displays which include the wide variety of
dance styles performed by members of the Morris Ring. We hope that White
Star’s participation will be an encouragement to sides who do not
usually attend Ring meetings to join us for a wonderful weekend of
dance.
Contact
Brian Tasker
e mail:
brian.tasker@totalise.co.uk