Cheshire Rounds ~ Neal
Cheshire Rounds ~ Neal is an English Country Dance. It was published by Henry Playford (website) in 1701 in The Dancing Master, 11th ed.. It was interpreted by John & William Neal, Rich Jackson & George Fogg in 1726 and published in A Choice Collection of Country Dances. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 16 bars. The tune is in triple time.
The 1. man casts off and his Partner follows him, the man goes quite round, the woman slips up the middle, the woman casts off and goes quite round: the 1. man slips up the middle, the 1. cu. cross over below the 2. cu. and cross up into their own places again, then right and left quite round into the 2. couples places.
The Neals' version seems very similar:
each strain twice.
1st. ma: casts off goes round 2d. cu: into his partners place his partner following him she slipping betweene 2d. cu: into his place:
she casts off goes round he following her & slipps twixt 2d. cu: into his own place & she into her's:
1st. cu: cross over & goe quite round 2d. cu: into their own place's:
Then right & left:
The tune was published by Playford with the dance, and the music was synthesized using Colin Hume's software.
The animation plays at 100 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.
| A1 | 1-4 | M1 cast down around both 2s up to partner's place, W1 follows up middle to his place |
| A2 | 1-4 | W1 cast down around both 2s up to partner's place, M1 follows up middle to her place |
| B1 | 1-4 | 1s cross, go below 2s, cross back up to places |
| B2 | 1-4 | Face partner, three changes of rights and lefts |
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.
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https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=CheshireRounds-Neal
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 © 2023 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This website is copyright © 2021-2026 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.