If all the World were Paper ~ P. Shaw

If all the World were Paper ~ Sharp If all the World were Paper ~ P. Shaw

If all the World were Paper ~ P. Shaw is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master, London. It was interpreted by Pat Shaw (website) in 1964 and published in Another Look at Playford. Found in The Playford Assembly. 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: C major. Someone thought this dance was Easy / Intermediate.

If all the World were Paper,
And all the Sea were Inke
If all the Trees were bread and cheese,
How should we do for drinke?

Witt's Recreations (1640)
quoted in The Playford Assembly.

Hands all, and meet a D. back again, set and turn S That again The two men against each other change places, your we. as much the S. Hey, back to your places ·: The other four as much

Sides all, set and turn S. That again The first four meet, lead each other's wo. between the Cu. on your left hands, cast off, go to your places and turn your own ·: The other four as much

Arms all, set and turn S That again The first four change places, then change with your own men, cross over, take left hands and right with the we. To your places ·: The other four as much

This is basically the same as Sharp's interpretation, save that Shaw uses a straight hey for four in Part 1, while Sharp uses a circular hey, and the timing in Part 2 is slightly altered.

The tune was published by Playford for the dance, If All the World Were Paper. The music was synthesized by Colin Hume's software

The animation plays at 120 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.

The dance contains the following figures: USA, hand turn (allemande), set, turn single, cast, lead, hey, hey for four, rights and lefts, siding, arming (and probably others).

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=IfAllTheWorldWerePaper

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The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1964 by Pat Shaw. 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.