I can't believe no one has responded to this...

I used to take fencing in college, and would ride the bus with my epee's hilt sticking out of my daypack. Similarly, when I went to Spain I bought a cheap-ass "Colada del Cid" sword and had it's hilt sticking out of my backpack (later went back to Toledo and dropped some cash on a smaller but truly lovely dirk).

When my brother came to visit with his kids I gathered all my swords (some antique, some sharp - this was before dancing) and put them in the garage so his kids wouldn't try to play with them. The first thing my husband did was give the whole family a tour of our new house, and of course the kids immediately saw the swords in the garage and wanted to play with them....

At Burning Man I dropped my sword off my head while dancing and stupidly grabbed at. It is NOT sharp but I like to project the illusion that it is. After replacing it on my head I licked my palm dramatically as if cleaning up the gash the sword had left. Another dancer told me later she thought that was great!

OK, others' turns to share!

Oh wait here is a story told by one of my teachers. She, Siobhan of Cloverdale, was teaching a class at Pennsic (the SCA's big war) on bellydancing with a sword. She urged all her students to spend as much time walking around with the sword on as possible (which she still recommends, as do I - just remember not to walk straight through a doorway!).

While walking through camp, some heckler insisted they were somehow attached to the ladies' heads. "Ladies! Swords UP!" she called out and they all lifted them straight off their heads. They then put them back on and continued walking, leaving gasps behind them.

Let me start by saying ** realize the legal ramifications before attempting **

I was performing at a small faire and after the set a little girl came up to me and asked me how hard it was to balance the sword and how heavy it was on my head. I looked around the crowd and asked for the girls parent or parents. A man claimed her as his daughter so I asked him if he minded me demonstrating on her. He said that it was fine. So I gently corrected her posture, lifted her chin and placed my sword on her head.

It was a great photo op, and I waited till dad got a few photos and then removed the sword from her head. The little girl looked up at me in awe,hugged me, then ran back to her dad. It was really cute.

BUT...before doing something similar please understand that should something go wrong (ie: the child twitches or wiggles) and the sword slips you are opening yourself and the faire up for lawsuits.

When I was still using a dinky light chromed cabaret sword, I was attempting some floorwork with it while dancing at a nightclub. The area that I was dancing on was a sort of suspended dance floor; there had been plexiglas between the floor and the railings at one point, but it was long gone. So I lay back, and the sword chooses that moment to slide off my head; I felt it go, tried to grab at it, but it skittered across the floor and right over the edge. It crashes onto the old broken-down baby grand that my husband and his co-DJ were using as a table for their gear. Luckily, the sword misses them and the gear.

That's when I vowed to get a Cas Iberia.

I was at the NY RenFaire. I had ordered a custom sword and was up there to pick it up (dragon hilted rapier, oh so pretty). I wanted to test the balance before I accepted it, which the craftsman insisted I do. His booth was empty so I was test lunging with it. Suddenly a kid stepped in front of me. Fortunately I saw him and tilted the blade up so I wouldn't stab him. I turned away to try lunging again, and lo that kid was there again. The craftsman was chuckling at my "misfortune" and skill in avoiding the child.

In college I took fencing classes for my PE requirements. I liked to sleep in and since the school was cheap they only had half-jackets. Course there weren't enough right-handed jackets so I had to learn to fence left handed. Gave me an, ahem, edge.

"Ah, but I know something you do not know!"
"What is that?"
"I am not left-handed!"