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Orion Longsword was formed in 1986 near Boston and is now known for its innovative and unusal choreography, bringing together a wide variety of musical and artistic traditions. As important as the dances we perform is the music to which we dance. Our always live band ranges from one to seven musicians playing anything from accordian and guitar to saxophone and banjo!

Since 1992 we have been performing dances of our own composition. All of our dances seek to combine the essence of sword dancing - uniformity of movement and seamless repetition - with a style that is uniquely American. Each dance is very different from the others, but all draw on traditional folk figures and tunes - both older English ones and newer American ones.

Our performances have taken us all over the east coast of the United States as well as to England to participate in two International Sword Spectaculars and the Sidmouth Folk Festival.

Orion's original foreman, and founder, was Rich Jackson. Judy Erickson has been foreman since 1995 and is the primary choreographer of all of our dances.