Prince Rupert's March
Prince Rupert's March 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 1916 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 4). It is a proper 4 Couple Longways dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a multipart dance. The dance lasts 72 bars. It is in the key: D Minor.
Lead all round to the right hand, and come to your places again First man turn down to the right hand and stand before the last wo. 2. man before the 3. and the 3 before the 2. wo. your faces all to the left-hand and march toward the wall, and change places with the we. Do this again till you come to your places Lead all round to the left hand and come to your places again The we. do as the men have done, only they must go down behind the men, and stand as the men did before them This again till you come to your places. Lead all round to the right hand as at the first Men march all on the outside of the we, the we. marching down on the outside of the men, open all a D. and close again The we. march up to their places on the outside, and the men in the inside the we. open all and close again
Prince Rupert was the grandson of James the 1st (of England, 4th of Scotland) and during the Engish Civil War was in charge of the calvalry for the royalists.
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.A | 1-8 | 1s, followed by others leadright and down, around the set, back up the middle to places |
| I.B1 | 1-4 | M1, followed by other men, loops W1 goes down outside and ends behind W4 (M2 behind W3, M3 W2 and M4 W1) |
| 5-6 | Face the men's wall and go forward a double | |
| 7-8 | Change places with opposite | |
| I.B2 | 1-4 | M4, followed by other men, loops W1 goes down outside and ends behind partner |
| 5-6 | Face the men's wall and go forward a double | |
| 7-8 | Change places with partner | |
| II.A | 1-8 | 1s, followed by others, lead left to the bottom and up the middle |
| 9-12 | The women do as the men did: W1, followed by others cross around M1 going down outside to behind M4 | |
| 13-14 | Face the women's wall and go forward a double | |
| 15-16 | Change places with opposite | |
| 17-20 | W4, followed by others cross around M1 going down outside to behind partner | |
| 21-22 | Face the women's wall and go forward a double | |
| 23-24 | Change places with partner | |
| III.A | 1-8 | As at first: 1s, followed by others leads right and down, around the set, back up the middle to places |
| III.B1 | 1-4 | M1, followed by other men single file circles clockwise to the woman's line, going down to the bottom, at the same time W4 goes up the men's line ending at the top |
| 5-8 | Partners face, fall back come forward | |
| III.B2 | 1-4 | M4 leads the men, and W1 the women counter-clockwise |
| 5-8 | Partners face, fall back come forward |
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.
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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
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.