Jenny Pluck Pears
Jenny Pluck Pears is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master, London. 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 3 Couple Circle dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 144 bars. It is in the key: A modal.
Playford writes
Hands and 2. D. round, set and turn S. That again First man set his wo. in the midst with her face to him, the 2. man set in his wo. the 3. as much, honour all Men go round about the we. back again Back again First man take out his wo. second as much, honour all Sides all, set and turn S. That again As at the first, we. setting in the men The we. go round, and take them out. Arms all, set and turn S. That again As the first time. Men go round Back again First man take out his wo. second as much, honour all
The tune, also called Jenny Pluck Pears was published by Playford with the dance. It is a medley with 16 bars of jig followed by 8 bars of triple time. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album A Playford Ball. The music is used with permission from the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc.
The animation plays at 107 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
| I.A1 | 1-4 | Circle six left |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| I.A2 | 1-4 | Circle six right |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| I.B | 1-2 | Taking right hands, M1 place partner in center, facing him |
| 3-4 | M2 place partner in center | |
| 5-6 | M3 place partner in center | |
| 7-8 | Set right and honour | |
| II.A1 | 1-8 | Men skip clockwise around women |
| II.A2 | 1-8 | Men turn around (left) skip back to place |
| II.B | 1-2 | M1 bring partner out by left hand |
| 3-4 | M2 the same | |
| 5-6 | M3 | |
| 7-8 | Set right and honour | |
| III.A1 | 1-4 | Partner right siding |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| III.A2 | 1-4 | Partner left siding |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| III.B | 1-2 | W1 take partner left and move him into center |
| 3-4 | W2 | |
| 5-6 | W3 | |
| 7-8 | Set right and honour | |
| IV.A1 | 1-8 | Women skip clockwise around men |
| IV.A2 | 1-8 | Women turn around (left) skip back to place |
| IV.B | 1-2 | W1 bring partner out by right hand |
| 3-4 | W2 | |
| 5-6 | W3 | |
| 7-8 | Set right and honour | |
| V.A1 | 1-4 | Partner arm right |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| V.A2 | 1-4 | Partner arm left |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| V.B | 1-2 | M1 take partner right and move her into center |
| 3-4 | M2 | |
| 5-6 | M3 | |
| 7-8 | Set right and honour | |
| VI.A1 | 1-8 | Men skip clockwise around women |
| VI.A2 | 1-8 | Men turn around (left) skip back to place |
| VI.B | 1-2 | M1 bring partner out by left hand |
| 3-4 | M2 | |
| 5-6 | M3 | |
| 7-8 | Set right and honour |
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=JennyPluckPears
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.