Griggstown Lock performs English rapper sword dances and sings. Rapper dancing comes from Northumbria where it developed in the coal mining villages in the early 1800s. The dances are done to fast jig-time music played by a fiddler. Rapper dances are usually done with five dancers joined by short flexible ‘swords’ with a handle on each end. The team weaves intricate figures in which the dancers and the swords get tangled and untangled with occasional arrangement into a ‘lock’ in a star shape.

Jane McCarty and Michael Bell started Griggstown Lock Rapper Sword team in 1989 and the group performed at their wedding. The team which dances primarily in the Princeton, NJ area, takes its name from the lock, of a different kind, on the Delaware & Raritan Canal at Griggstown, NJ. Griggstown Lock has performed at community events, street festivals, retirement communities, and the Philadelphia Art Museum. We have participated for more than 15 years in the Half Moon Sword Ale held in Manhattan each February. We practice on Monday nights in Franklin Park NJ, just north of Princeton.
Contact us at griggstownlock@princetoncountrydancers.org.

Recent Events: Wednesday, January 27, 2010: Demonstration Dance at Princeton Country Dancers during the break in the evening of contra dances. Suzanne Patterson Center, Princeton, NJ Wednesday, February 3, 2010 7-7:40 pm: Rapper Sword Dance Workshop to learn rapper sword dancing at Princeton Country Dancers prior to the evening of contra dances. Suzanne Patterson Center, Princeton, NJ Saturday, February 13, 2010, 9:30 am: Staten Island Ferry Terminal Performances by 15 sword teams (rapper and long sword) including Griggstown Lock, at the Half Moon Sword Ale.