This 37th annual festival features free, family-friendly performances of a traditional dance form with modern twists by nine performing groups from around the northeast.

See both mystical, stately longsword and vigorous rapper sword dancing, with live music on fiddle, accordion, and other instruments. In both types of sword dance, the dancers are linked in a ring by the “swords” they hold in their hands while they work as a team to weave intricate figures and patterns without breaking the circle.

All teams gather Saturday at 10 am at Speyer Hall at University Settlement and Sunday 2:30 pm at the Brooklyn Waldorf School (11 Jefferson Avenue, Brooklyn), with individual team dances at libraries, schools, churches and other venues around Manhattan and Brooklyn Feb 18-19. See website for schedule.