Argeers ~ Sharp
Argeers ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). It is a Facing Couples dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a multipart dance. The dance lasts 96 bars. It is in the key: B# major.
Playford writes:
Meet all, take each others wo. by both hands, to slips to the left, and two to the right, change places, turn your own once and a half Meet again, turn each others wo. to your places, turn your own Men change places, we. change places, set and turn S. we. change places, men change places, set and turn S. Lead each others wo. to the left hand, fall a D. back, and turn your own Back, all meet again, set and turn S. Men go to the right hand and back again, the we. going to the left, turn each others wo. meet and back, men go the S. Hey to your places Put each others so. back by both hands, slip to the right hand, fall down on the contrary side, set and turn S. Slip betweeen each other to your place, put them backward and forward by both hands, set and turn S. One man cast off with the co. wo. the other following, then they cast off the other way, the other following, to your places Then half the S. Hey, your own, fall all abreast to the presence
The tune, Argeers, was published by Playford with the dance. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album At Home. The music is used with permission from the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc.
The animation plays at 113 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
| I.A1 | 1-4 | Forward a double, take two hands with opposite, slip away and back, pass opposite right to face partner |
| 5-8 | Partner two hand turn once and a half | |
| I.A2 | 1-4 | Opposite two hand turn once and a half while moving clockwise to original place |
| 5-8 | Partner two hand turn once | |
| I.B1 | 1-2 | Men change |
| 3-4 | Women change | |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| I.B2 | 1-2 | Women change |
| 3-4 | Men change | |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| II.A1 | 1-4 | Lead opposite out a double, fall back and face partner |
| 5-8 | Partner two hand turn | |
| II.A2 | 1-4 | Fall back with partner and come forward |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single, end facing opposite | |
| II.B1 | 1-2 | Four slip steps, men right, women left, women in front |
| 3-4 | Four slip steps back | |
| 5-8 | Two hand turn opposite | |
| II.B2 | 1-8 | Women forward to meet and fall back as men figure 8 beginning counter-clockwise around opposite |
| III.A1 | 1-4 | Half poussette with opposite, men push |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| III.A2 | 1-4 | Half poussette with opposite, men push |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| III.B1 | 1-4 | M1+W2 cast, partners follow, loop away and back home |
| 5-8 | W1+M2 cast, partners follow, loop away and back home | |
| III.B2 | 1-4 | Face opposite, two changes of a circular hey |
| 5-6 | Two hand turn partner to end in a line facine presence, 2s on left | |
| 7-8 | Step forward and honour presence |
If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.
If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=Argeers-Sharp
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2024 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.