Lady Spellor
Lady Spillers
Lady Spellor or Lady Spillers 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 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). It is a proper 4 Couple Longways dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 120 bars. It is in the key: G major.
Playford writes
Lead up a D. forwards and back, set and turn S. That again Go all to the left hands cross the Room, faces all, set and turn S. Change places all with your own we. set and turn S. Change places all with your own we. set and turn S. First cu. go down between the rest, they following, come towards the left hand to your places ·: Sides all, set and turn S. That again As before ·: Arms all, set and turn S. That again As before ·:
Playford says this is for "as many as will", but modern adaptations seem to be for four couples (Playford draws four couples in his example of how the dance starts)
The animation plays at 120 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
| I.A1 | 1-4 | Up a Double, and back |
| 5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
| I.A2 | 1-4 | Up a Double, and back (again) |
| 5-8 | Set and turn single | |
| II.A1 | 1-4 | Right Siding |
| 5-8 | Set and turn single | |
| II.A2 | 1-4 | Left Siding |
| 5-8 | Set and turn single | |
| III.A1 | 1-4 | Right Arming |
| 5-8 | Set and turn single | |
| III.A2 | 1-4 | Left Arming |
| 5-8 | Set and turn single | |
| B1 | 1-4 | Face men's wall, forward two doubles |
| 5-8 | Face partner, set and turn single | |
| B2 | 1-4 | Cross partner right and loop right to face in |
| 5-8 | Set and turn single | |
| B3 | 1-4 | 1s, followed by others, lead down through middle |
| 5-8 | Turn left and lead up to original places |
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=LadySpellor
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 © 2021 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.