Having whet your appetite for fast and furious rapper action in our preview of DERT last week, and because reporting on a live event makes me feel like a sports journalist, we thought we’d bring you some of the best bits from DERT 2023.
Swipe left or right to see more pictures in the viewer below.
Tower Ravens. Photo credit: Victoria Clegg. 
Black Swan Rapper. Photo credit Jeff Johnson. 
Mabel Gubbins. Photo credit Jeff Johnson. 
Mons Meg. Photo credit Jeff Johnson. 
Northgate Rapper. Photo credit Jeff Johnson. 
NYFTE. Photo credit Jeff Johnson. 
Star and Shadow Rapper. Photo credit Jeff Johnson. 
Whipe the Cat. Photo credit: Victoria Clegg.
The results
Congratulations to all the winning teams on their fine performances, and to all the teams who woz robbed of victory so cruelly. Clearly, Tower Ravens, Sallyport and Whip the Cat are the teams to beat in 2024.
| Category | Team |
| Premier Class | Tower Ravens |
| Open Class | Silver Flame |
| The Adrienne Moss Trophy(The Veterans Competition: awarded to the highest-scoring team with a combined age of 250 years | Sallyport Sword Dancers |
| The Steve Marris Trophy (Awarded to the team with the highest overall score, including character scores, from any category.) | Tower Ravens |
| DERTy (Awarded to the highest scoring team in the youth (17-13 years) and junior (12 years and under) competitions.) | NYFTE (both age groups) |
| SDU DERT (Awarded to the highest scoring team in the main competition performing rapper as an alternative to their main dance forms.) | NYFTE |
| Traditional Competition (Awarded to the highest-scoring team performing a traditional rapper dance.) | Sallyport Sword Dancers |
| The Tyzack Shield (Awarded to the team with the highest marks for buzz factor (the excitement of the dance)). | Whip the Cat |
| Spotlight (Awarded to the highest-scoring team for their dance in the Spotlight.) | Whip the Cat |
| Characters (Awarded to the team with the highest scores for characters: Tommy, Betty or both.) | Sallyport Sword Dancers |
| The Angela Lee Trophy (Awarded to the team with the highest scores for music.) | Tower Ravens |
| The Pioneer Trophy (DERT 2023 host’s competition; awarded to the best example of cooperative working) | Sallyport Sword Dancers |
We particularly loved Sallyport Sword Dancers’ superb massed musicians, winning them the Pioneer Trophy for cooperation.
Find out more about the competing teams below, or find your nearest rapper team on the morris map if you fancy giving bendy sword dancing a try.
You can also join the Facebook rapper community for lots more photos and videos from the day and of rapper generally: The Nut.
- Birmingham Rapper
- Black Swan Rapper
- Dancing Spires Rapper
- Mabel Gubbins Rapper
- Mons Meg Rapper
- Newcastle Kingsmen
- Northgate Rapper
- NYFTE
- Sallyport Sword Dancers
- Silver Flame Rapper
- Star and Shadow Rapper
- Tower Ravens
- Whip the Cat Rapper and Clog
A special mention to Sheffield Steel Rapper who unfortunately, in a not-so-glorious throwback to 2020, had to pull out due to half the team catching COVID from each other a few days before the competition. Despite this, a healthy contingent got themselves to Rochdale to whoop and cheer their way through the day, and to hand out little bottles of Sheffield’s finest Henderson’s Relish to unsuspecting judges and dancers.
DERT 2024
Next year DERT will be heading to Whitby, so get 12-14 April 2024 in your diaries.
