Charteris' Downfall

Charteris' Downfall or The Rape is an English Country Dance. It was published by Walsh in 1730 in Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1730. It was interpreted by Andrew Shaw in 2024 and published in The Irish Howle. Originally a Triple Minor this version is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars.

The original title is "The Rape", but, emulating Cecil Sharp's delicacy, Shaw has changed it.

Also found in Wright's Compleat Collection of Celebrated Country Dances, ~1740.

First Cu. clap Hands cast off and lead thro' the 3^d. Cu. cast up in the 2^d. Cu. Place, the 2^d. Cu. do the same. 1^st Man change Places with the 2^d. Wo. the Wo. do the same, clap round till they come in their Places; then Right & Left then hand with y^e 2^d. & 3^d Cu. till done.

A. Shaw suggests that couples about to become out (either at top or bottom) stop at bar 28 and not do the final three changes. They wait out improper and are ready to start the next three changes. This means that when the dance starts, if there is couple waiting at the bottom it should be improper.

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.

The dance contains the following figures: circle, cast, lead, hey, circular hey, rights and lefts (and probably others).

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=CharterisDownfall

The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 2024 by Andrew Shaw. 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.