Money Musk ~ Contra 24 Improper
Money Musk ~ Contra 24 Improper is an American Country Dance. It was devised by Werner/Preston in 1785. It was interpreted by Traditional in about 0. It is a Triple Minor dance with the 1s improper. The minor set lasts 24 bars.
Monymusk is an estate in Aberdeenshire in Scotland.
Cracking Chestnuts says the tune was written by Daniel Dow and published in Thirty Seven New Reels and Strathspeys in 1776. Francis Werner set figures to the tune in his 8 Cotillions, 6 Favorite Contry Dances and two Minuets, with their proper Figures for the Harp, Harpsichord and Violin Book xvii for the year 1785. John Preston in 1786 published a different set of figures in 1786 and his version of the dance appears to be the basis of the Scottish Country Dance `Monymusk'.
The tune was originally a 32 bar strathspey but has somehow become a 24 bar reel.
Werner writes:
Turn your partner with the right hand; quite round, and cast off one Cu. Turn with the left quite round, Set three and three top and bottom, and turn your Partner, Set three and three sideways and turn your Partner. Hands six quite round and back again Lead out sides and turn your Partner with both hands.
Saltator writes:
First couple cross over, down the out side, promenade round the gentleman, fall between the second couple, the lady between the third, six dance address, first couple promenade and fall below the second, six demicircinate, right and left atop.
The animation plays at 120 counts per minute normally, but the first time through the set the dance is 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.
The dance contains the following figures: hand turn (allemande), cast, right and left through, petronella (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.
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. I do not have a date for the interpretation, so it may be under copyright. 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 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.