Sage Leaf ~ Sharp

Sage Leaf ~ Sharp Sage Leaf ~ Bolton

Sage Leaf ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1670 in The Dancing Master, 4th ed., London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (mod) in 1922 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 6). It is a Square dance. It is a multipart dance. The minor set lasts 240 bars.

Playford writes:
Take all hands and go round, back again All the men go in and meet in the middle and back again, then the we. do as much, then the first cu. lead into the middle and back again, then give your right hand to your wo. and turn her round, so the next cu. do the same, and so to the last, the Musick playing the same Strain till they have led in Then every man gives is right hand to his own wo. and turns her once and a half, and then goes on to the next, and so till he comes to his own :·: So do all again but leave out the first Strain till every couple has begun to lead in.

In the D section Sharp says both "played as many times as there are couples" and "procedes... to his place". But playing as many times as there are couples leaves people half way across the set from their place, so he is giving contradictory instructions. Playford says "and so till he comes to his own", which leaves people in half way from where they started.

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.

Intro with 1s active
 
A1-4Circle eight left, ...
5-8... and back by the right
Figure with 1s active
 
B1-4Men to center, and fall back
5-8Women to center, and fall back
C11-4%1 lead to center and fall back
5-8%1 face and right hand turn
C21-4%2 lead to center and fall back
5-8%2 right hand turn
C31-4%3 lead to center and fall back
5-8%3 right hand turn
C41-4%4 lead to center and fall back
5-8%4 right hand turn
D11-4Partner right hand turn once and a half
D21-4Neighbor right hand turn once and a half
D31-4Next neighbor right hand turn once and a half
D41-4Next neighbor right hand turn once and a half
Figure with 1s active
Figure with 1s active
Figure with 1s active
Intro with 1s active

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=SageLeaf-Sharp

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The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is out of copyright in the US, but I'm not sure of other jurisdictions. 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.