Bobbing Joe

Bobbing Joe ~ Hume Bobbing Joe

Bobbing Joe is an English Country Dance. It was found in the Lovelace Manuscript (written somewhere around the 1640s) and later published 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 proper Duple Minor dance. It is a USA dance. The minor set lasts 288 bars.

Lovelace writes:

Leade up twice, and sett twice, then the first man, and second woeman shall sett and fall backe, the second man, and first woeman the like, that the first man, and second woeman shall chang places, the afforesad couple the like, and soe goe on the same until all come to their places, this chanige you shall find very perfictly described in the Mayden Fayre;

Sides all, twice, and sett 2; then the first man, and second woeman shall fall backe, meete and hold right hands, the second man, and first woeman doe the like, ni holding hands acrosse; and then all foure goe round, until the 2nd couple are uppermost, and then lett goe, and each man sett to his woeman, then the same agayne unto every couple untill all ome to their places;

Armes all twice, and sett twice, then the two first couple shall leade up to each other twice, backe again, and then take hands all foure, and goe round like as before, but not take hands a crosse, and having done round soe farre, until the first couple come to stand in the place of the second couple, they shall all quitt hands, and then every man shall turne round his woeman, and so doe the same until all are in their places.

Playford writes:

Lead up forward and back That again. Set and turn S That again

First cu. slip down between the second, they slipping up Then they slip down Hands and go round First two men snap their fingers and change places Your we. do as much Do these two Changes to the last, the rest following.

Sides all That again. Set and turn S That again

First two on each side hands and go back, meet again Cast off and come to your places First four change places with your own Hands and go half round These Changes to the last.

Arms all That again. Set and turn S That again

Men back a D. meet again We. as much ·: First cu. change with the 2. on the same side Then change with your own These changes to the last.

This dance has three small duple minor dances inside it, punctuated by the usual "Up a double"/"Siding"/"Arming". When specifying how many times these subdances should repeat Playford writes "These Changes to the last", which I take to mean "until the set has inverted".

The animation plays at 120 counts per minute normally, but the first time through the set the dance will often be slowed down so people can learn the moves more readily. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color, however the border of each dancer indicates what role they currently play so the border color may change each time through the minor set.

An online description of the dance may be found here.

Up a double
 
A11-4Up a Double, and back
A21-4That again
B11-4Partner set and turn single
B21-4That again
Part 2 repeats 5 times
 
A11-41s slip down between 2s as 2s slip up outside, then 1s slip up outside as 2s slip down inside
A21-4Circle left
B21-1M1 snaps his fingers at M2 on second beat
2-2M2 snaps his fingers at M1
3-4M1+M2 change places
B21-1W1 snaps his fingers at W2 on second beat
2-2W2 snaps his fingers at W1
3-4W1+W2 change places
Siding
 
A11-4Right Siding
A21-4Left Siding
B11-4Partner set and turn single
B21-4That again
Part 4 repeats 5 times
 
A11-4Fall back a double with neighbor then come forward
A21-41s followed by 2s cast down and move up to place
B11-1Men snap fingers at their partners
2-2Women snap back
3-4Partner change
B21-2Circle left half
3-3Men snap
4-4Women snap
Arming
 
A11-4Right Arming
A21-4Left Arming
B11-4Partner set and turn single
B21-4That again
Part 6 repeats 5 times
 
A11-4Men fall back and come forward
A21-4Women fall back and come forward
B11-11s snap
2-22s snap
3-4Change with neighbor
B21-1Men snap fingers at their partners
2-2Women snap back
3-4Change with partner

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=BobbingJoe

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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 © 2021 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
Creative Commons License 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.