From Aberdeen is an English Country Dance. It was published by Henry Playford (website) in 1698 in The Dancing Master, 10th ed.. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1922 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 6). Found in The Playford Assembly. It is a proper Triple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 28 bars. It is in the key: G major.
Playford writes:
The 1. man cast off below the 2. man, and take hands and fall down between the 3. cu. the wo. follows her Partner and slips between the 2. cu. This to the first Strain twice.The 1. man being between the 3. cu. all three take hands and go quite round, the 1. wo. being between the 2. cu. does the same at the same time; the 1. man being between the 3. cu. hands quite round, the we. do the same at the same time, till he come in the middle and meets his Partner between the 2. and 3. cu. and turn her; the 1. man does the same between the 2. cu. as before.
The tune 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 More Favorites of the Boston Centre. The music is used with permission from the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc.
The animation plays at 111 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 | 1s long cast down, 2s lead up |
A2 | 1-4 | 1s two hand turn 3/4s to end W1 above 2s, M1 below 3s |
B1 | 1-4 | Circle three at ends, 1s cast right to end in same sex circles |
5-10 | Circle three on sides, 1s two hand turn a quarter to finish outside end couples again | |
B2 | 1-4 | Circle three at ends, 1s cast right to end in same sex circles |
5-10 | Circle three on sides, 1s two hand turn half to finish 2nd place proper |
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=FromAberdeen
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.