Dargason or Sedany is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1911 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 2). Found in The Playford Ball. It is a Custom dance. There is no progression in this dance. The dance lasts 152 bars. It is in the key: F major.
Playford writes:
First man and wo. sides once, set and turn S. Pass forward each to the next sides, set and turn S. As much to the next ·: And so forward and back till you come to your places where you began.
Arms all as you sided, till you come to your own places.
The S. Hey, all handing as you pass till you come to your places.
The tune, also called Dargason, appeared in Playford with the dance. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album A Playford Ball. The music is used with permission from the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc.
The animation plays at 120 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
A | 1-4 | Middle couple Sharp siding |
5-6 | Middle couple set | |
7-8 | Middle couple pass by left, men twirling right, women left | |
A | 1-4 | Center two couples couple side |
5-6 | Set | |
7-8 | Pass by left | |
9-16 | ||
17-24 | ||
A | 1-8 | Reverse direction |
9-16 | ||
17-24 | ||
25-32 | ||
A | 1-4 | Middle couple arm right |
5-6 | Middle couple set | |
7-8 | Middle couple pass by left, men twirling right, women left | |
A | 1-4 | Center two couples arm right |
5-6 | Set | |
7-8 | Pass by left | |
9-16 | ||
17-24 | ||
A | 1-8 | Reverse direction |
9-16 | ||
17-24 | ||
25-32 | ||
AAA | 1-24 | Middle couple start a progressive hey with right hands, all dancers going through all positions. At ends turn, reenter using same hand |
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=Dargason
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 © 2020 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
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.