Soldier Ladie ~ Williams
Soldier Ladie ~ Williams is an English Country Dance. It was published by Walsh in 1731 in The Compleat Country Dancing Master vol 1, London. It was interpreted by George Williams in 2022. It is a proper Triple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 64 bars.
Walsh writes:
The 1st Man Heys with the 3d Cu. his Partner at the same Time heys with the 2d Cu. Then the 1st Man Heys with the 2d Cu. 1st Wo. at the same Time Heys with the 3d Cu. First Cu. leads thro' the 2d and 3d We. and turn in the 2d Cu. Place First Cu. leads through the 2d and 3d Men and turns at Top The 1st Cu. Back to Back and cast off and turn The 2d Cu. does the same First Man leads the 2d Wo. off and turns her First Wo. leads the 2d Man off and turns him, 1st Man cast off at the same Time.
Walsh does not say when the 2s move up. I think it must happen several times. First they need to move up during the heys so that there is room for the 1s to lead out between the 2s and 3s (and then turn in the 2nd couples's place). Then they need to move down so that the 1s can turn at top. Then they move up and down when the 1s and they cast. And finally they move up when the 1s turn them.
What do we make of First Man leads the 2d Wo. off and turns her? I'm guessing that "lead off" means lead out. For M1 to lead W2 out easily then one of them must be improper. That can't happen in the "cast off and turn" sequences, those being symmetric, would leave either both proper or improper. So I assume when the 1s turn at top (after the lead out sides) leaves the 1s improper. Then people lead out, turn around, come back and turn once and a half to progress.
That still leaves the 1s improper, but we have 1st Man cast off at the same Time now "cast off" usually means "cast down", but I think here it means "cast across" and W1's turn will take her across the set.
Oh, and because M1 has further to go to hey with the 3s at the start, I think he should cross in front of W1 (rather than the more common reverse).
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.
The dances of George Williams (including interpretations like this one) are licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: CC BY-NC-SA license.
| A1 | 1-8 | 2s move up as 1s pass 1st corner left to hey on the ends |
| A2 | 1-8 | 1s cross left then pass 2nd corners right to hey on the other end |
| B1 | 1-8 | Lead out sides: 1s meet in center, face woman's wall, and lead out between W2+3 looping around them to meet in the center and two hand turn half, ending facing the men's line |
| B2 | 1-8 | 1s lead out through the men and loop around them, as the 2s move down, 1s meet at top and two hand turn ending improper |
| A3 | 1-4 | 1s back to back |
| 5-6 | 1s cast down as 2s lead up | |
| 7-8 | 1s two hand turn quickly | |
| A4 | 1-4 | 2s back to back |
| 5-6 | 2s cast down as 1s lead up | |
| 7-8 | 2s two hand turn quickly | |
| B3 | 1-4 | M1+W2 lead out, turn around, lead back |
| 5-8 | M1+W2 right hand turn once and a half | |
| B4 | 1-4 | W1+M2 lead out, turn lead back |
| 5-8 | W1+M2 left hand turn once and a half as M1 casts right |
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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https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=SoldierLadie
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 2022 by George Williams. And is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2022 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.