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Dance Figures Index:English Country Dances, 1700-1827

compiled by
Robert M. Keller
The Colonial Music Institute, Annapolis Maryland


Introduction
List of Sources
Coding Procedure
Table 1. Title Index
Table 2. Figures Index
Table 3. Source Index
Table 4. Dance Figure Codes
Table 5. Number Codes
Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Dance Figures Index: English Country Dances, 1700 - 1827 is a guide to the basic figures in major English printed longways country dances in eighteenth and early nineteenth-century sources.  This database only includes sources for dances with instruction for country dances, or dances that could be identified as such. It does not include other dance forms, such as Cotillions or Allemand or similar dances. .

This database comprises information from the following collections of English Country Dances, published from 1700 to 1827. A Summary List of the sources is given below:

Astor 24 CD Bishop 6 Min/12 CD Bland 24 CD Bland&Weller 24 CD (6)
Bland&Weller CD/HP/R Bland&Weller Sc Dan Bride 200 CD (3) Bride 24 CD
Budd 14 CD Cahusac 12 CD (12) Cahusac 24 CD (11) Campbell 24 CD (4)
Campbell Fav CD (3) Collett 24 CD Dale 24 CD Dodd 24 CD
Essex 16 R/CD Fentum 24 CD Fentum 8 Cot/6 CD Fishar 12 CD/Cot/Min
Fishar 32 Min/Cot/CD Gentleman's Magazine Goulding 24 CD (6) Goulding Fav CD
Goulding&d'Allmaine Gray 24 CD Hime Irish Dances Hodsell CD
Imperial Magazine Johnson 200 CD (8) Johnson 24 CD Johnson Cal CD
Kauntze CD Ladies Mirror Ladies Pocket Book London Magazine
Longman 12 CD Longman&Broderip 18 CD/td> Longman&Broderip 200 CD Longman&Broderip 24 CD
Martin Miscellany Merry Medley Midwife Musical Magazine
New Dance Fan Pippard 24 CD Platt Cot/CD Playford DM (25)
Preston 24 CD (20) Rolfe 24 CD Rutherford 12 CD Rutherford 200 CD (3)
Rutherford 24 CD Sancho CD (2) Skillern 204 CD Skillern 24 CD
Skillern Cal CD Thompson 24 CD (45) Thompson 200 CD (5) Universal Magazine
Voight CD Walsh 24 CD (27) Walsh CCDM (11) Walsh Cal CD (7)
Walsh Essex CD Walsh NCDM (2) Walsh Self-Instr Welch Dance Cards
Werner Cot/CD Wheatstone CD Wills 10 Irish Dan Willsim 24 CD
Wilson Companion Wilson l'Assemblee Wilson le Sylphe Wilson Terpsichore
Wright 24 CD

Three indexes were created from this data: Title Index, Source Index and Figure Index. The Title Index and Figures Index each have 6 columns of information:
Column 1: Short title of the source.
Column 2: Page of the dance in the source
Column 3: Title of the dance as it appears in the source.
Column 4: Dance figures (coding)
Column 5: Number of couples active in the longways minor set
Column 6: Comments

Title Index

The Title Index is sorted on Column 3. A sample is given in Table 1 showing several versions of "Prince William." Two basic dance figures can be discerned.

Figure Index

The Figure Index (see Table 2) is sorted on Column 4. Looking under "LLLCO", we see that a similar dance appeared with other titles, sometimes in the same book, sometimes even on the same page!  It will be important to look at the original source to see how close the dances actually are to being the same. 

Source Index

The Source Index arranges the sources alphabetically by Short Title. The contents of each is listed sequentially from the first to the last page. Although all dances were coded, only the longways country dances are given in this index, thus there may be some gaps in the paging sequences. (see Table 3.)

Coding Procedure

21.927 dances from 311 sources were coded. In addition to the usual information such as title, page number, and source name and date, each dance was analyzed for its basic figures and number of active couples in the longways minor set.

Letters were selected to represent basic figures such as 0 for "circle", X for "hands across", and R for "right and left." These letters were then combined to represent the sequential figures of each dance.  The codes (see Table 4)provide an outline of the dance, and help to bring like dances together in the indexes.

Numbers were then added as "Comments" to provide clarification or additional information about the figures (see Table 5).  These ranged from modifications such as "half-way" to step specifications such as "rigadoon" or "minuet."

Details such as who is dancing with whom were not included.  This index is intended to be a research tool to provide access to the choreographies of early English country dance. Although the basic pattern of each dance is clear, dances cannot be accurately reconstructed from this streamlined data.

Example

As an example, the figures for "Prince William" are given in several sources as follows:

The 1st Man Heys with the 2d. and 3d. Wo. his Partner at the same time Heys with the 2d. and 3d. Men.
Then Hey on your own Sides.
The 1st. Cu. cross over and turn. The 2d. Cu. does the same.
The 1st. Man turns the 3d. Wo. with his Right Hand, his Partner does the same with the 2d. man at the same time and then turn your Partners.
Do the same at the other Corner.
First Cu. leads thruogh the 2d. and 3d. Wo. and turn in the 2d. cu. Place.
Then lead through the 2d and 3d. Men and turn again. (Walsh CCDM 1b,1731, p.4)

This would be coded as: "HHVTVTTTTTETET" using the symbols:
Hey on the other side
Hey on your own side
Cross oVer and Turn
Cross oVer and Turn
Turn corners then Turn Partners
Turn other corners then Turn Partners
LEad out through the Women and Turn
LEad out through the Men and Turn

Interestingly, we can see in Table 1 below, that Walsh and Johnson published four similar versions of this dance, however Bride published it twice with a much different dance (Leads and Casts and cross-oVers and Rights and Lefts)

Table 1.
Title Index
Short Title Page Title Figures Actives NB
Bride 200CD-1,1775  7:70  Prince William  LLLCVR  3  L=85,L/2  
Bride 200CD-2,1775  7:70  Prince William  LLLCVR  3  L=85,L/2  
Johnson 200CD-1,1740  17  Prince William  HHVTVTTTTTETET  3  E=L  
Walsh CCDM-1b,1731  4  Prince William  HHVTVTTTTTETET  3  E=L  
Walsh CCDM-1c,1735  6  Prince William  HHVTVTTTTTETET  3  E=L  
Walsh CCDM-1d,1760  6  Prince William  HHVTVTTTTTETET  3  E=L  

In Table 2, below we can see that a dance with very similar figures was published by five different publishers with nine different titles. They all include three Leads followed by a Cast and Hands rOund.

Table 2.
Figures Index
Short Title Page Title Figures  Actives NB
Longman&Brod 24CD,1791  1  Miss Pultney's Fancy  LLLCO  3  L=85,O/2  
Platt Cot/CD,1791  17  Mask'd Ball,The  LLLCO  3  L=85,O/2  
Preston 24CD,1791  62  French Liberty  LLLCO  3  L=85+29,O/2  
Skillern 204CD-1,1776  51  Trip to the Jerseys  LLLCO  3  L&O,O/2  
Thompson 24CD,1791  30  Quoz  LLLCO  3  L=85,O/2  
Thompson 24CD,1792  46  Pleyels Fancy  LLLCO  3  L=85,O/2  
Thompson 24CD,1793  59  Waggoner,The  LLLCO  3  L=85,O/2  
Thompson 24CD,1795  73  Mr. Slack's Jigg  LLLCO  3  L=85,O/2  
Thompson 24CD,1797  3  First of August  LLLCO  3  L=85,O/2  

Table 3.

Bibliography - Walsh CCDM-1b,1731

Title Walsh CCDM-1b,1731 
Title The Compleat Country Dancing Master...MDCCXXXI 
Pages 150 
Publisher Walsh, I. 
Location British Library. a.4.a 
Date 1731 
Place London 
NB Particularly those perform'd at the several Masquerades 
Title Page Date
New way of wooing,The  1  1731 
Walley Honey  2  1731 
Ladds of Dunce,The  3  1731 
Prince William  4  1731 
Trip to the Lawndry,A  5  1731 

Table 4 - Dance Figure Codes
Code  Description
A  Allemand and reverse
C  Cast up or down; may include Breza or Brise
D  Down the outside and back; may include Chasse, Slip, Slide but does not include a cast.
E  LEad out sides, go across set or out or in at sides
F  Figure of 8 (Whole figure)
G ChanGe places or Cross over with no movement up or down the set
H  Hey, usually for 3 or 4 people moving
I  SIding or sides, such as "Sides with partners"
J  Honor, with the whole body including Salute, Obeisance, Bow
K BacK to back or Dos a dos
L  Lead down the middle and back
M  Upper body Movements (Peep, Shake Hands, Clap, Kiss)
N TurN single; may include Pirouette or Brise
O  Hands all rOund or Circle and back
P  Poussette or Draw
Q  Arming or Arms right and left
R  Right and left all round
S  Stepping in place: Setting, Footing, Jigging, Rigadoon.
T  Turn, 2 dancers, by one or two hands
V  Cross oVer 1 or 2 couples (up or down the set)
X  Hands across all round and back, including Mullinet
Y "Wild Card" or unclear figure, usually amplified in "Comments"
Z "Wild Card" or unclear figure, usually amplified in "Comments"
Additional Symbols
= Clarification of figure, such as "S = 24" for "balance"
+  Steps used during figure, such as "minuet," "hornpipe," "contretemps"
/2 ½ of the movement only, such as "half figure" or "lead down" without a "and back"
&  "Meanwhile" figure if significantly different
*  Same movement repeated, such as "M = 2*4" for "clap four times"
|  Alternate figure, such as "or hands across"
\\ Separation of parts of multi-part dance if shown as several parts
\  Separation of sub-parts of multi-part dance

Table 5 - Comments Field Number Codes
1 Swing 51 Turn off
2 Clap hands, Snap fingers 52 Contretemps
3 Stamp, Beat 53 Double Figure
4 Honor, Obeisance 54 Rigadoon
5 Kiss 55 Cross corners
6 Assemble 56 Foot it
7 Chain 57 Salute
8 Hook 58 Reel
9 Cast over 59 Backward
10 Boree Step 60 Jingboys
11 Pas de bas 61 Promenade
12 Waltz 62 Peep
13 Jig 63 Mullinet
14 Pirouette 64 Turn back hands
15 Couezi 65 Kick out legs
16 Serve hands 66 Hornpipe step
17 Cut off 67 Go without/within side
18 Fall 68 Minuet
19 Chassee, Chercee 69 Open,close
20 Slide, Slip 70 Cross partners
21 Coupee 71 Spring corners
22 Great Round 72 Draw
23 La Main 73 Link/Hook
24 Balance 74 Beckon
25 Dos a dos 75 Threaten
26 See Saw 76 Maze
27 Baulk 77 Lock hands
28 Leap, Jump, Hop 78 Allemand Passes
29 Dance 79 Make Honours
30 La Queux du Chat 80 Hold handkerchiefs to eyes
31 Ceremony 81 Meet all four corner ways
32 Observe 82 Shake/strike hands
33 March, Walk 83 Humour the tune, Look down & groan
34 Monk's March 84 Staggar as drunkard
35 Chassenet 85 Go behind/around
36 Manulude 86 Present & fire/Dart/Point Finger
37 Sesun 87 Make a feign
38 Pas de Bouree 88 Hit elbows
39 Brise, Breza 89 Feign a cry
40 Gallop 90 Double Triangles
41 Forward and back 91 Lead abreast
42 Go under hands 92 Turn backs
43 Olivette 93 Cut clean
44 Bow, Nod 94 Cross all four
45 Make your manners 95 Over the head
46 Change partners 96 Brush/Wind/Wave hands
47 Hunt 97 Cut capers
48 Shuffle 98 Shake legs
49 Pass through 99 Corrant Step
50 Cast in & out

Acknowledgements:My thanks to Albert Blank, and George Fogg for their help in locating sources and providing photographs, hand notes or photocopies from which to code the dances.
Finally, special thanks are due to my resident consultant, favorite dance partner and wife, Kitty, for her indefatigable assistance in editing, organizing and formatting.  Her bibliographic work was the foundation for this index.
Introduction Coding Procedure Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Acknowledgements

 
  Created and published March 25, 2006
© 2006. Colonial Music Institute(tm)