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English Country Dance

Originally based on the dances of the village green observed by Queen Elizabeth I as she toured the country with her court (The Royal Progresses), especially after her visit to Cowdray in 1591. The "Old Country Dances" developed into the "New Country Dances" at court, but it was not until 1651 that they were first published by John Playford in "The English Dancing Master" collected from the London Inns of Court. Tunes and dances such as Gathering Peascods, Sellenger's Round, Jenny Pluck Pears, Jamaica, Newcastle, Juice of Barley, Lilli Burlero, Portsmouth, Jack's Maggot and Hunsdon House became popular with all levels of society. Famous composers such as Handel, Beethoven and Purcell (whose lovely "Air VIII Hornpipe" became used for the dance "The Hole in the Wall") all wrote country dance tunes. The dances were popular with all levels of society and were performed in fashionable Assembly Rooms or the local Village Hall. The dances lost favour to the Waltz, Polka etc. in the 19th century but were revived by Cecil Sharp in the 20th. New tunes and dances in this style continue to be written.

The Ring	The Star (or "Hands Across")	The Hey For Three

The English Country Dance is essentially a figure dance which relies on patterns (imagined as tracks on the ground and as formations of dancers) being executed by the dancers in time to the music. Three basic patterns are the ring or circle, radial star shaped patterns and interwoven patterns known as "Heys"

Lead Up	Side into line Right Shoulders	Arm Right

Many dances are in 3 parts (figures) introduced by 1: Leading up the room and back 4 steps (or circling left and right), 2: "Siding" with partners right and left. 3: "Arming" with partners, right and left.

Under the Arch	Two hand turn	Grand Chain (Circular Hey)

Other figures include dancing under arches, turning partners 2 hands (or swinging them with a crossed arms hold) and various interwoven figures or heys. Circular heys are started by facing partners and passing alternately by right and left shoulders around a circle. Do this holding the ribbons of a maypole and the pattern of the dance will produce an actual woven pattern of the ribbons around the pole. Likewise dances are done holding long wooden slats (or Swords) leading to an interwoven "knot" of swords at the end, but this is Maypole and Sword Dancing.

You can give Country Dancing a try at WAT Dance, Earley Folk Dance Group or Reading Folk Dance Group

For schools interested in taking up the subject try TRAdition Dance And Music In Schools TRADAMIS

Gloucestershire Map

In 1579 Christopher Saxton published his Atlas of England and Wales. Michael Drayton in his Poly-Olbion of 1612 shows a poetic landscape peopled with river nymphs and harvesters which could have come straight out of an Elizabethan masque complete with a dance around the maypole. These shows often ended with the audience being invited to join the actors in a country dance. The dances seen by Queen Elizabeth on her journeys were incorporated into courtly entertainments (with a little influence from fashionable Italian Renaissance dances). The notion of music and dance having created order out of chaos ("The harmony of the spheres") gave the dances performed for her by her subjects the added meaning of showing them to be part of a well ordered and harmonious realm.

The spirits of the air perform a masque in
William Shakepeare's The Tempest

Iris
You nymphs, called Naiades, of the windring brooks,
With your sedged crowns and ever-harmless looks,
Leave your crisp channels, and on this green land
Answer your summons; Juno does command.
Come temperate nymphs, and help celebrate
A contract of true love. Be not too late.

Enter certain Nymphs

You sunburned sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow, and be merry.
Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on,
And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.

Enter certain Reapers, properly habited. They join the Nymphs
in a graceful dance, towards the end whereof, Prospero starts
suddenly and speaks; after which, to a strange, hollow and
confused noise, they heavily vanish.

Pageant

Be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

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English Country Dance

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