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By Weasel, February 25, 2010 10:15 am

Saving Sword Dance UK

Those of you in the UK are probably aware of the ban on the sale or importing of certain types of sword that was passed by the british government in 2008. After a lot of backwards and forwards arguing and some ridiculous handwaving from those in power, exemptions were eventually written into the bill for martial artists, SCA type re-enactors, etc.

But not for dancers.

The use of curved blades in bellydance, particularly Turkish and Tribal and in many forms of folk dance is well established, yet was entirely ignored by government when writing the heritage and sporting activities exemption to this bill. All attempts to raise this so far have been met with the same canned responses and no real result.

A UK BellyDancer named Melany is taking her case to a customs tribunal at the end of April, arguing for the right to import a sword for dance purposes. The tribunal do have the power to change the law, but she cannot afford any legal help. to counterbalance this, she is looking for testimonies from dancers, current and past about how their lives have been positively influenced by dance to help strengthen the case for a new exemption.

She has posted details of how to contact her and submit testimonies / get involved on a publicly viewable facebook group here (you do not need to be logged in or even to have a facebook account). If you're a dancer currently involved in some form of sword dance, or a Bellydancer or folk dancer who would one day like to be, please head over and give this some of your time.