Slaughter House
Slaughter House is an English Country Dance. It was published by Henry Playford (website) in 1702 in Twenty Four New Country Dances. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1922 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 6). Found in The Playford Assembly. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars.
The 1. man, and 1. and 2. we. take hands, and go a whole round to their places Then 1. man and 2. wo. and 2. man do the same The 1. man and 1. wo cross over into the 2. cu. places, then lead up all 4 abreast, and back again; the 1. man and 1. wo. cross over, and go half the Figure of 8 into the 2. cu. place, and right and left till you come into your own places, the 1. man and 1. wo. lead down between and 2. cu. and cast up to the top, all 4 clap hands, the 1. man and 1. wo. cast off into the 2. cu. place.
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.
| A1 | 1-4 | 1s+W2 circle three |
| 5-8 | 2s+M1 circle three | |
| A2 | 1-4 | 1s cross go below 2s cast up into the middle of a line of four |
| 5-8 | Line of four up a double and fall back, bending the line | |
| B | 1-4 | 1s half figure 8 up |
| 5-8 | Three changes of a circular hey starting with partner (no hands) | |
| 9-12 | 1s lead down and cast home | |
| 13-14 | Clap: Own hands, partner's right, own, partner's left | |
| 15-16 | 1s cast down as 2s move up |
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 © 2020 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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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.