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.A11-4Circle six left
5-8Partner set and turn single
I.A21-4Circle six right
5-8Partner set and turn single
I.B1-2Taking right hands, M1 place partner in center, facing him
3-4M2 place partner in center
5-6M3 place partner in center
7-8Set right and honour
II.A11-8Men skip clockwise around women
II.A21-8Men turn around (left) skip back to place
II.B1-2M1 bring partner out by left hand
3-4M2 the same
5-6M3
7-8Set right and honour
III.A11-4Partner right siding
5-8Partner set and turn single
III.A21-4Partner left siding
5-8Partner set and turn single
III.B1-2W1 take partner left and move him into center
3-4W2
5-6W3
7-8Set right and honour
IV.A11-8Women skip clockwise around men
IV.A21-8Women turn around (left) skip back to place
IV.B1-2W1 bring partner out by right hand
3-4W2
5-6W3
7-8Set right and honour
V.A11-4Partner arm right
5-8Partner set and turn single
V.A21-4Partner arm left
5-8Partner set and turn single
V.B1-2M1 take partner right and move her into center
3-4M2
5-6M3
7-8Set right and honour
VI.A11-8Men skip clockwise around women
VI.A21-8Men turn around (left) skip back to place
VI.B1-2M1 bring partner out by left hand
3-4M2
5-6M3
7-8Set 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

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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
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.