Petticoat Wag

The Taylor's Daughter

Petticoat Wag or The Taylor's Daughter is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master, London. It was interpreted by Charles Bolton (website) in 1989 and published in Retreads Vol.4. Originally proper this version is a 4 Couple Longways dance with the 3s, 4s improper. There is no progression in this dance. Originally this was a single progression dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 96 bars. It is in the key: G Minor.

Playford writes:
Lead up forwards and back, turn back to back, faces again All that again First man cross and go behind the 2. wom. the first wo. going behind the 2. man, peep twice at each other, fall into the 2. place on your own side Do thus to the last, the rest following in order.

Sides all, and as before That again First cu. cross between the 2. fall into the 2. place, cross again, fall into the 2. place on your own side Do thus to the last, the rest following in order

Arms all, and as before That again The two first men take both hands change places, the we. as much, set and turn single Do thus to the last, the rest following.

Originally a duple minor dance.

The tune, called Petticoat Wag was published in The English Dancing Master by Playford in 1651. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album Fast Friends. A copy of the album was given to me by Mr. Roodman and is used with his permission.

The animation plays at 103 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.

The dances of Charles Bolton (including interpretations like this one) are licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: CC BY-NC-SA license by the CDSS Online Library.
An online description of the dance may be found here.

I.A11-4Up a double, and fall back
5-8Turn away from partner to face down, turn back to face partner
I.A21-4Down a double, and fall back
5-8Turn away from partner to face down, turn back to face partner
I.B11-2End couple cross go behind middles (into lines of four across the set), while middles turn to face up or down and make an arch
3-4Ends peep at partner under the arch, then peep on the other side
5-6Ends move in, under arch while middles move out
7-8Original ends (now middles) two hand turn partner half
I.B21-2All that again, new ends cross
3-4Ends peep
5-6Dip and dive
7-8Two hand turn partner proper
II.A11-4Right Siding
5-8Turn left to face wall, turn back to face partner
II.A21-4Left Siding
5-8Turn right to face wall, turn back to face partner
II.B11-2Middles move out, ends cross in face neighbor
3-8In the center, facing neighbor, three changes of rights and lefts
II.B21-2New middles move out, ends cross in face neighbor
3-8In the center, facing neighbor, three changes of rights and lefts
III.A11-4Right Arming
5-8Turn left to face wall, turn back to face partner
III.A21-4Left Arming
5-8Turn right to face wall, turn back to face partner
III.B11-2In groups of four at the ends: Neighbor two hand turn half
3-4M1+W2,M4+W3 change
5-8Partner set and turn single
III.B21-2Opposite two hand turn half
3-4M2+W1,M3+W4 change
5-8Partner set and turn single

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=PetticoatWag

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The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1989 by Charles Bolton. And is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: CC BY-NC-SA license. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2021 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: CC BY-NC-SA 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.