Epping Forest
Epping Forest is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1670 in The Dancing Master, 4th ed., London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1922 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 6). Found in The Playford Ball. It is a 3 Couple Circle dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 96 bars.
Hands all and 2 D. round, set and turn S. That again Honour all to your own, and kiss her Honour to the contrary, and kiss Turn all your own we. Turn all the contrary Sides all, set and turn S. That again As before As before Arms all, set and turn S. That again As before As before
Playford says "Honour all your own and kiss her/ Honour to the contrary and kiss her" Sharp changed this to "Set right and honour, set left and honour" in both cases.
There tune was published with the dance. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album At Home. The music is used with permission from the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc.
The animation plays at 111 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
| I.A1 | 1-4 | Circle six left |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| I.A2 | 1-4 | Circle six right |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| II.A1 | 1-4 | Right shoulder siding |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| II.A2 | 1-4 | Left shoulder siding |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| 9-12 | Arm right | |
| 13-16 | Partner set and turn single | |
| III.A2 | 1-4 | Arm left |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| B | 1-4 | Honour your partner and kiss |
| 5-8 | Honour your corner and kiss | |
| C | 1-4 | Partner two hand turn |
| 5-8 | Corner 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=EppingForest
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.