The Winlaton sword dance is a favourite among many rapper dancers, including most members of Sallyport. The village of Winlaton has a very long history of performing sword dances, with records of sword dancing there dating back to 1830, making it one of only two villages known to have had sword dances before 1850.

However, despite its relative antiquity among rapper traditions, it is by no means a conservative tradition. When Cecil Sharp recorded its notation in 1912, the dance was relatively simple, but Sharp described it as being performed with force and energy. He went on to say:

Although its figures are few in number, and none of them, technically, of special intricacy compared, at least, with those of the Earsdon and other dances-the dance is by no means an easy one. The great difficulty is to catch its barbaric spirit, to reproduce the breathless speed, the sureness and economy of movement, the vigour and abandonment of the “stepping” displayed by the Winlaton men. The movements must be absolutely continuous, and, from the conclusion of the Calling-on Song to the final exhibition of the Nut, there must be no stop or pause of any kind.

The dance, like all rapper dances of the period, evolved during the competitions of the 1920s to become more complex and exciting for the audience, and the version of the Winlaton dance performed by Sallyport includes some of the changes that were later included.

Despite its relative simplicity, the Winlaton dance when performed well can be exciting and elevate the spirits of the audience. Key to this is the “barbaric spirit” and “breathless speed,” traditionally 160 steps per minute and speeding up as the dance goes on.