Bury Fair ~ Sharp

Bury Fair ~ A. Shaw Bury Fair ~ Neal/3 Couple Bury Fair ~ Neal Bury Fair ~ Sharp Bury Fair ~ Christian

Bury Fair ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by Henry Playford (website) in 1696 in The second Part of the Dancing Master. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1922 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 6). It is a proper Triple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars. It is in the key: F major.

Playford writes:

Note: Play each Strain twice, and end with the third Strain.

The 1. Man cast off and fall between the 3. cu. and all three hands a-breast, the 1. Wo. cast off and fall between the 2. cu. and sett to one another face to face; the 1. Man and 3. cu. take all three Hands and go half round and back again, the 1. Wo. and 2. cu. do the same; the 1. Man and 3. cu. go the Hey, the 1. Wo. and 2. cu. do the same; then the 1. Man take his Partner by the Hand in the 2/cu. Place, and lead her thro' the 3. cu. and cast up into the 2. cu. Place, then lead thro' the other cu. and cast off into the 2. cu. Place.

I think Christian's interpretation is much better. Sharp's circles are too close together, and a right shoulder hey doesn't fit the dance as well as a left shoulder one.

The tune was also published with the dance. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album Favorites of the Boston Centre. The music is used with permission from the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc.

The animation plays at 107 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 (no music plays during this slow set). 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.

A11-4M1 cast below 3s and loop up to stand between then (2s do not move)
5-6W1 cast belwo 2s and fall back between them (2s do not move)
7-8Set to opposite
B11-42s+W1, 3s+M1 circle left three
B21-4... and back by the right
C1-8Right shoulder heys for three at the ends, (W1+M2, M1+W3 start), 2s finish in 1st place, 1s in 2nd (3s where they are, in 3rd)
D1-41s lead down through 3s, cast to 2nd place
5-81s lead up through 2s, cast to 2nd place

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=BuryFair-Sharp

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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.