Fain I Would ~ Sharp

Parthenia ~ Sharp

Fain I Would ~ Hume Fain I Would ~ Sharp

Fain I Would ~ Sharp or Parthenia ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master, London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). Found in The Playford Ball. It is a Square dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 96 bars. It is in the key: G minor.

Playford writes:

 The 1. and 3. cu. meet, the 2. and 4. falling back, the 1. and 3. cu. fall back four abreast, the 2. man and 4. wo. with the 1. cu. the 4. man and 2. wo. with the 3. the 1. man and 3. wo. the 3. man and 1. wo.
Lead all out, lead all in again, 1. man and 4. wo. the 1. wo. and 2. man change places by both hands, the other doing the like, then the 1. man 1. wo. and 2. and 4. wo. change by both hands, the other 4 doing the like then each man hands with the wo. on his left hand, lead out and in as before, changing places, back as before Arms and fall into the 4 and 2. places, whilest the 2. man and 4. wo. the 4. man and 2. wo. arms behind and fall into the 1. and 2. places The other as much As in Oxford.

Sides and change places as before Sides again and change places back again The 1. and 3. cu. cast off, and come into your places all again, the 4. wo. following the 1. man, the 2. man the 1. co.. the 2. wo. the 3 man, the 4. man the 3. wo. the uppermost and lowermost 4 hands round to your places The 2. and 4. cu. cast off, and the other follow to your places four and four of each side, hands round to your places.

Arms and change as you sided That again to your places The 1. and 3. cu. meet, turn back to back, the other four hands about them, and go round to the right and fall into each others places, the 2. and 4. wo. into the 1. place, the 4. man and 2. wo. into the 3. place, the 1. man and 3. wo. to the 4. place, the 3. man and 1. wo. to the 2. place Other four as much

(The typography is odd, but I think the text in the right table cell at top is intended to flow into the right cell underneath it.

This dance, along with Dull Sir John and Hide Park, is described by Playford in 1651 as "A Square Dance for eight". On the other hand Newcastle , Mage on a Cree, If All the World Were Paper, etc. are described as "Round for eight".

Colin Hume suggests that the backward circles in III.B are probably not what Playford intended. He proposes that the inner dancers stand still.

The tune, Fain I Would, was published by Playford 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 94 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.

I.A11-4Partners lead out a double, turn, lead back
5-6Corner two hand turn about half, ending in two lines on the sides
7-8Opposite two hand turn half, ending in square
I.A21-4Current couples lead out a double, turn, lead back
5-6Corner two hand turn half, ending in two lines on the sides
7-8Opposite two hand turn half, ending in square
I.B11-4Heads forward a double as sides face, join hands in lines of four and fall back
5-8Arm right with opposite, for side couples opposite is a the end of the line, end improper, sides in nearest head spot, heads in nearest side
I.B21-4New heads forward a double as new sides face, join hands in lines of four and fall back
5-8Partner arm left to home (head men cross the set)
II.A11-4Partners side right
5-6Corner two hand turn about half, ending in two lines on the sides
7-8Opposite two hand turn half, ending in square
II.A21-4Current couples side left
5-6Corner two hand turn half, ending in two lines on the sides
7-8Opposite two hand turn half, ending in square
II.B11-4Heads cast in a circle back home and sides follow them
5-8Heads and their followers circle four, all end home
II.B21-4Sides cast in a circle back home and sides follow them
5-8Sides and their followers circle four, all end home
III.A11-4Partners arn right
5-6Corner two hand turn about half, ending in two lines on the sides
7-8Opposite two hand turn half, ending in square
III.A21-4Current couples arm left
5-6Corner two hand turn half, ending in two lines on the sides
7-8Opposite two hand turn half, ending in square
III.B11-2Heads lead in to meet, face out, form back-to-back circle
3-8Heads circle right (clockwise), fall back to nearest side with opposite woman, while sides circle four around the heads and fall back to nearest head spot
III.B21-2New heads lead in to meet, face out, form back-to-back circle
3-8New heads circle right (clockwise), fall back home, while sides circle four around the heads and fall back home

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=FainIWould

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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
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.