Fy, Nay, Prithee John is an English Country Dance. It was published by Henry Playford (website) in 1703 in The Dancing Master, 12th ed.. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1922 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 6). It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 24 bars.
Fall back all four and pass through into each others places, facing to the wall and hands behind half a turn, the 2. cu. being a-top First Strain once. The 2. cu. cross over the 1. cu. above and below and come to the top and turn his own Partner a whole turn with both hands. Second Strain. All four clap hands, the 2. cu. cast off into their own places, and clap hands again: The 1. cu. cast off into the 2. cu's place. The end of the Third Strain.
This dance is a rare duple minor where the 2s have a more important role than the 1s.
The animation plays at 120 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. 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 | Fall back, then cross with partner (stay facing out) |
5-8 | Facing out, circle clockwise half | |
A2 | 1-4 | 2s cross, go below 1s, cross again, return to the top |
5-8 | 2s two hand turn | |
B | 1-2 | Clap: own hands, partner's right, own partner's left |
3-4 | 2s cast down as 1s lead up | |
5-6 | Clap: own hands, partner's right, own partner's left | |
7-8 | 1s cast down as 2s lead up |
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=FyNayPritheeJohn
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 © 2021 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.