The first of what would become the International Sword Spectacular festivals was held in Scarborough, on Britain's Yorkshire coast, in May, 1996.  

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Teams performing both rapper and longsword dances came from across the United Kingdom as well as from the United States, Canada, and a number of European countries, dancing in the streets of Scarborough s well as in a gala performance.  For a flavour of the event see this video and this video.  

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The coming together of so many traditions and variants had a marked effect on the home sword dance scene for years to come.  Two examples would be:

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    - longsword: the tradition, particularly among German and Austrian teams, of having a dancer or character stand on the sword lock and be raised to shoulder height found many British imitators.

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    - rapper: the innovative style and razzmatazz of the North American teams split the rapper world, with some teams adopting specific figures and the general flavour of what they had seen, while others complained that this was not proper rapper; for a discussion of this last point see this book review.

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The success of the festival led to another one being organised in 1998, this time in Whitby.