Other countries
Ireland
There is only one reference to a linked sword dance in Ireland, and it only refers to one occasion. It was by a certain Fynes Moryson in the 17th century:
“...and also the metachine dance with naked swords, which they do make to meet in divers comely postures. And this I have often seen them do before the Lord Deputy and the chief commander of the army, in the hands of the Irish kerne, who had either lately been, or were not unlikely to prove, rebels.”
Hungary
Although most Hungarian sword dances were solo dances, or performed unlinked in groups, such as the Verbunkós dance used to recruit soldiers, there were a few linked sword dances in Hungary. The Hajdútanc was an energic linked sword dance described, but with little detail, by a visiting English physician in 1669. There are also records of sword dances at Erdübenye, near Tokaj, and in various Hungarian settlements in Transylvania.
Romania
There are records of sword dances at numerous German and Hungarian settlements in Transylvania, but none within the pre-1920 boundaries of Romania, which would suggest that all Romania's sword dances were imported.
Portugal
There is still a stick dance similar to linked sword dances in the villages around Miranda do Douro in the Tras os Montes region of northern Portugal, but sword dances were performed in Portugal at least up until the 17th century as this a comtemporary tapestry depicting a 17th century procession in Lisbon which shows five dancers performing a Single-Over figure. There are also records of sword dances in Setúbal in 1482 and in Guimarães in 1660, although the form of these dances is unknown and they may have been mock-battle rather than linked dances.
In the Minho province of northern Portugal, there were dances linked with sticks or staves performed by young girls on women's shoulders, called Pelas, similar to those of neighbouring Galicia. The dance performed with dancers on others shoulders also sounds intriguingly similar to the Perth Glovers' dance from Scotland.
Brazil
The Mozambique de São Paulo is a linked dance using wooden poles traditional to the city of São Paulo and performed by Brazilians of Mozambique origin. The dancers wear bells and ribbon baldricks, and so the dance is almost certainly of European origin!
