Lovely Nancy

Alchurch

Lovely Nancy or Alchurch is an English Country Dance. It was published by Henry Playford (website) in 1690 in The Dancing Master, 8th ed.. It was interpreted by Broadbridge, Van Cleef in 2000. Found in The Playford Assembly. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars. It is in the key: G major.

The figures of the dance were published by Playford in 1690 to the tune Alchurch. Johnson attached it to the (then contemporary) tune Lovely Nancy in 1744.

It was adapted by Van Cleef in 1979 and further adapted by Broadbridge in 2000.

Playford writes:

First cu. meet and set, and turn S. then the 1. wo. cast off into the second improper, (her Partner at the same time folow s her and casts off to the second improper,) the 2. cu. doing the same, then the two men hands and lead through the we. to the same, then all clap, and all hands quite round, and then the two we. do the same, then clap, and all hands half round and turn S.

Johnson writes:

First Cu. meet, set & turn S. & 1st. Wo. cast off into ye 2d. improper, her Partner at ye same time fallows her & casts to ye 2d. improper. the 2d. Cu. doing the same: then ye two Men hands & lead thro' ye We. to ye same. then all clap & all hands quite round, the two We. do ye same then all clap & hands half round and turn S.

The figures of the dance were first published in Playford, but Johnson's publication of 1744 fitted them to the current tune. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album Simple Pleasures. The music is used with permission from the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc.

The animation plays at 102 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 (no music plays during this slow set). 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.

The dance contains the following figures: set, turn single, turn single cloverleaf, circle, cast, lead (and probably others).

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=LovelyNancy

< Prev Top Next >

The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 2000 by Broadbridge. 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.