Stephen D. Corrsin, PhD, author and dance historian

Stephen D. Corrsin has a Ph.D. in European history from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is the author of numerous articles, papers, and bibliographies on the history of linked styles of sword dancing in Europe and North America, as well as other topics, such as the history of the Jews in Poland.

Dr. Corrsin's long anticipated Sword Dancing in Europe: A History was published in 1997, as publication 3 of the "Tradition Series" of the Folklore Society. Since its appearance, he has continued his research in the general field. His next major work, which is planned for 2001, has the working title: Ideology and Myth in the European Folk Dance "Revival," 1870-1945. It will focus on the highly ideological scholarship concerning "ritual" dancing in England, Germany, and Austria, in the period up to the Second World War. This includes both "ancient ritual survival" notions, and extremist nationalism. (His wife insists on calling this future book "Folk Dancing Fascists" which is more exciting if less accurate.) He has also published Sword Dancing in Britain: An Annotated Bibliography Based on the Holdings of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library of EFDSS, 2d ed rev and expanded, available free to the whole world at http://www.efdss.org/sword.htm.

Dr. Corrsin has been a sword and morris dancer in New York, Ontario, and Michigan. He has, literally, gone gray in the service of promoting these unusual dance styles, and was a founding member of the highly innovative group, New World Sword, which was the first U.S. sword dance group using primarily European continental dance material. He has been a featured speaker at both the 1st (Scarborough, England, 1996) and the 3rd (Whitby, England, 2000) international sword dance festivals.