Kılıç-Kalkan (Sword and Shield) is one of the folk dances without music. It is believed that folk dance originated in Anatolia before the Turks. Xsenophon, who lived between 430-355 BC, stated in his book Anabasis that during an entertainment organized after a victory, Thracian and Mysian soldiers, who lived around Bursa, singed and danced with their daggers with figures as if they were fighting, and the the clashing daggers created a rhythm. During the Ottoman period, it is believed that veterans who entered the city after the conquest of Bursa performed victory dances with swords and shields. The Sword and Shield Folk Dance is performed with swords and shields as the name implies. The sounds made by the sword and shield and the foot and knee strokes of the dancers replace create the music and rhythm. Symbolizing the wars of the ancient times, the sword-shield games consist of six figures and each has a meaning.
