This weekend, many families will come out to watch English sword dancing
during the annual festival sponsored by a local women’s sword dance team,
Half Moon Sword. What is English sword dancing?

Well, it’s fun, flashy, interesting to watch, and — you’ll just have to come and see. All
performances at the festival are free. There will be 11 teams dancing this
year, most of them coming here from other states. Each team has its own
costume, or “kit.”

On Saturday, February 16, we will dance mostly in Manhattan, although
there will be one performance, at the Brooklyn Heights Library at 3 PM
(280 Cadman Plaza West). See our website, www.halfmoonsword.org, for
Manhattan locations.

On Sunday, February 17, there will be three locations for performances at
12:30 PM: In Park Slope at Old First Reformed Church (7th Ave. and Carroll
St.); and in Brooklyn Heights at First Unitarian Church (Monroe Place and
Pierrepont St.) and the Brooklyn Historial Society (Pierrepont St. and
Clinton St.). Each stand will feature three or four teams.

Then at 2:30, all 11 teams will dance one after another at the Brooklyn Museum (200
Eastern Parkway). While this performance is free, the Museum asks for a
entrance donation.