Lady's Triumph ~ Howe

The Triumph ~ Howe

Lady's Triumph ~ Howe Dorset Triumph The Triumph ~ Preston The Triumph ~ Sharp The Triumph La Triomphe ~ RSCDS The Triumph ~ RSCDS

Lady's Triumph ~ Howe or The Triumph ~ Howe is an American Country Dance. It was published by Preston in 1796 in Preston's Twenty four Country Dances for the Year 1793, London. It was interpreted by Elias Howe in 1858 and published in Complete Ball-Room Hand Book. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars.

Preston published a version in 1796, and Thompson published something rather different in 1790 named La Triomphe. Walsh published The Lady's Triumph in 1719, but it has a completely different figure. Preston's version has three lead up abreast, but has not yet developed the triumphal arch over the woman.

Preston writes:

The 1st. Lady set to the 2d. Gentn. & turn The 1st. Gentn. set to the 2d. Lady & turn The 1st. Lady take the 2d. Gentn. by the right hand & lead him down to the 3d. Cus. place · The 1st. Gentn. cast off & his Partr. all 3 lead up to the top together ·· the 1st. Cu lead down the middle up again & cast off ··

Wilson writes:

3 PARTS

Single Figure.

The second Gentleman leads down the top Lady, at the same time the top Gentleman crosses over and leads down outside on the Ladies' side, the two Gentlement then lead the Lady up in triumph to her place ··, then the top Gentleman leads down the second Lady, and the second Gentleman crosses over and leads outside on the Ladies' side, the two Gentlemen then lead the Lady up to her place in triumph ··, lead down the middle, up again, and right left .

Or thus:

Set and change sides ··, the second Gentleman leads down the top Lady, at the same time the top Gentleman crosses over and leads down outside the Ladies' side, the two Gentlemen then lead the Lady up in triumph to her place ··, down the middle, up again, and right and left .

In his Complete Ball-Room Hand Book, Howe has a small collection of dances which he takes directly from Wilson's 1816 work A Companion to the Ball Room. This dance is not in that section, so I presume it had arrived in the US before 1858.

Howe writes:

First lady join right hands with second gentleman down the centre, first gentleman dow after them takes his partner by the left hand, joining his right with the second gentleman's left behind the lady, up (in that position) to place—first gentleman and second lady down the centre, first lady after them and up as before to place—first couple down the centre, back (cast off)—right and left four.

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.

An online description of the dance may be found here.

A11-4W1+M2 join right hands and lead down, turning as a couple to face up, as M1 chase after them to join in a line of three facing up
5-8M1 joins right hands with partner, left to M2('s right) in an arch over W1, dance up, M2 cast home as 1s right turn half to home
A21-8The same, M1 with W2 while W1 chases, return with M1 in center
B11-81s down the middle, turn alone, come back up, and cast off
B21-8Right and left four

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=LadysTriumph

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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 © 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
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.