Gathering Peascods
Gathering Peascods 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 Circle as many as will dance. It is a USA dance. The minor set lasts 40 bars.
Playford writes:
Go all 2 doubles round, turn S. That back again Men hands, and go round in the inside, and come to your places we. as much Meet and clap hands, we. as much, while the men go back, men meet again and turn S. we. meet, men meet, while the we. go back, we. meet again and turn S Sides, turn S. That again As before, the we. going first As before, the we. meeting first Arms all, turn S. That again Men hand as at first Men meet as at the first time
The tune was published by Playford with the dance, Gathering Peascods, in 1651, and the music was synthesized by Colin Hume.
The animation plays at 116 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.
| I.A1 | 1-4 | All join hands, slip left 8 steps |
| 5-6 | Turn single | |
| I.A2 | 1-4 | All join hands, slip right 8 steps |
| 5-6 | Turn single | |
| II.A1 | 1-4 | Partner side right |
| 5-6 | Turn single | |
| II.A2 | 1-4 | Partner side left, slip right 8 steps |
| 5-6 | Turn single | |
| III.A1 | 1-4 | Partner arm right |
| 5-6 | Turn single | |
| III.A2 | 1-4 | Partner arm left |
| 5-6 | Turn single | |
| I,III.B1 | 1-6 | Men in, join hands, slip left, and back out |
| I,III.B2 | 1-6 | Women in, join hands, slip left, and back out |
| I,III.C1 | 1-2 | Men forward a double, clap on the third step |
| I,III.C1 | 1-2 | Women forward a double, clap on the third step, as men fall back |
| 3-4 | Men in, women out | |
| 5-6 | Men fall back turning single | |
| I,III.C2 | 1-2 | Women forward a double, clap on the third step |
| 3-4 | Men in, women out | |
| 5-6 | Women in, men out | |
| 7-8 | Women fall back turning single | |
| II.B1 | 1-6 | Women in, join hands, slip left, and back out |
| II.B2 | 1-6 | Men in, join hands, slip left, and back out |
| II.C1 | 1-2 | Women forward a double, clap on the third step |
| 3-4 | Men in, women out | |
| 5-6 | Women in, men out | |
| 7-8 | Women fall back turning single | |
| II.C2 | 1-2 | Men forward a double, clap on the third step |
| 3-4 | Women in, men out | |
| 5-6 | Men in, women out | |
| 7-8 | Men fall back turning single |
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=GatheringPeascods
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 © 2021-2025 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.