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Jamaica ~ Sharp

Jamaica ~ Cook Jamaica ~ Playford Ball Jamaica ~ Hume Jamaica ~ Hume, Old Style Progression Jamaica ~ Sharp

Jamaica ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1670 in The Dancing Master, 4th ed., London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1911 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 2). It is a proper Duple Minor dance. It is a multipart dance. The minor set lasts 64 bars.

Playford writes:

The first man take his wo. by the right hand, then by the left, and so holding hands change places, then do the same to the 2. wo. the 1. wo. and 2 man do the same Then fall back from your own, the 1. cu. being in the 2. cu. place, go the Figure of 8 Do this to the last.
The 1. man take hands with the 2. wo. and turn her round, the 1. wo. and 2 man do as much Then the two men take hands, and the two we. take hands, and turn once and an half, then turn your own Do this to the last.

This interpretation seems unlikely because in Part 1, Sharp has the 1s switching between proper and improper each time through the dance (rather like the modern dance Impropriety).

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.

Part 1 repeats 2 times

A	1-4	1s take right, take left turn half
	5-8	1s face neighbors, take right, left, turn half
B	1-8	1s full figure 8 up around 2s

Part 2 repeats 2 times

A	1-4	New 1st corners two hand turn
	5-8	2nd corners two hand turn
B	1-4	Two hand turn same sex neighbor once and a half
	5-8	Two hand turn partner

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=Jamaica-Sharp

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 © 2024 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.