Confesse, his Tune ~ Pat Shaw

The Court Lady ~ Pat Shaw

Confesse, his Tune ~ Pat Shaw Confesse, his Tune ~ Cecil Sharp Confesse, his Tune ~ Palmer

Confesse, his Tune ~ Pat Shaw or The Court Lady ~ Pat Shaw is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master, London. It is a Custom3 dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a multipart dance. The dance lasts 96 bars. It is in the key: G Minor.

Playford writes:

Men all a D. Back again That again Men go between the we. on your left hand, leading them from the other, change hands, meet again, turn them you meet Lead your own wo. from each other, meet again, turn them as you meet

Go all cross the Room to the left hand Back again One man go forwards alone, take one wo. with one hand, then the other, hands all four and go round The other as much

Go all cross the Room to the right hand Back again The two we. at each end lead to each wall, while one man goes up and the other down, the three we. meet, hands and go round, men turning S. Go all as before, men hands and go round, we. turning S

Meet all as at first The men lead the we. at one end to the wall and back, while the other we. go up on the outside, and come each under the others arms and turn each other, men turning each a wo. as much with the other we.

Playford is not much help on how this dance should be oriented. He prints a stock picture of a three couple longways set, while the text makes clear that there should be two facing trios of dancers with men in the center of each trio and women on the sides. Sharp orients the dance so that the trios are along the sidelines, Shaw orients it at right angles. (Personally I think Shaw is correct because in III.B1 Playford says the women lead to the walls, while Sharp has them leading up and down). This has no effect on the relative movements but alters the directions (what was "up" becomes "toward the woman's wall" etc.).

Shaw's two hand turn in I.B1 is different but ends in the same place.

Shaw's version of II.A/III.A seems truer to Playford than Sharp's. Playford says Go all cross the Room to the left hand". Sharp has everyone face the left wall while Shaw has everyone turn left.

Shaw uses a different corner in II.B.

Shaw's turn singles in III.B are different.

Shaw uses different pairs in IV.B.

The tune was published by Playford in 1651 with a dance of the same name, and the music was synthesized by Colin Hume's software.

The animation plays at 120 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.

I.A1-4In a double and fall back
5-8That again
I.B11-4Centers lead two on their left away, turn alone, lead back
5-8Centers two hand turn once and a quarter and cross as side four turn once
I.B21-4Centers lead original partners out, turn alone, lead back
5-8All two hand turn opposite
II.A1-4Face left (to a wall), go single file two doubles
5-8Turn alone, come forward to place
II.B11-2Center1 and right corner go forward to make an arch
3-8Others circle four around this center through the arch
II.B21-2Center2 and right corner go forward to make an arch
3-8Others circle four around this center
III.A1-4Face right go single file two doubles
5-8Turn alone, come forward to place
III.B11-4Side people lead opposite away, turn, lead back as centers move up or down, turn, move back
5-8Sides circle four while centers turn single wide
III.B21-4Repeat: sides lead away, turn, lead back as centers move up or down, turn move back
5-8Sides turn single wide as centers two hand turn
IV.A1-4In a double and fall back
5-8That again
IV.B11-4Centers lead the nearest the woman's wall a double to the men's wall, turn alone, lead back making an arch, while the other partner in each line casts and returns to place under the arch
5-8Centers two turn the same person as the others two hand turn
IV.B21-4Centers lead the person nearest the men's wall toward the woman's, turn alone, lead back making an arch, while the other partner in each line casts and returns to place under the arch
5-8Centers two turn the same person as the others two hand turn

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=Confess-PShaw

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The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1960 by . My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2022 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.