Spring Garden ~ Sharp

Spring Garden ~ Pat Shaw Spring Garden ~ Sharp

Spring Garden ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1657 in The Dancing Master, 3rd ed., London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). Found in The Playford Ball. It is a proper 4 Couple Longways dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a multipart dance. The dance lasts 120 bars. It is in the key: D Minor.

Playford writes:

Lead up forwards and back That again Four to one end and four to the other, hands half round and fall back from one another and change places, men in the middle and the ends with their own This again Then all again.

Men change back to back, and we. the like, change each with his own That again Cast off at both ends, the 2. follow the 2. and the 3. and 4. set to them you meet, and change places with them First and 2. lead down, othe other up, and change places All this again.

Lead to the wall forward and back Turn off, and change each with his own First and last cu. meet, and the 2. and 3. fall back, the men arm in the middle, and the ends with their own This again Then all again.

The tune, Spring Garden, was published by Playford in 1657 with the dance of the same name. The music was synthesized by Colin Hume's software

The animation plays at 96 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.

I.A1-4Up a Double, and back
5-8Up a Double, and back (again)
I.B11-4Fall back, then circle four half at ends
5-6Form lines, fall back, come forward
7-8End couples change with partner, middle couples change with neighbor
I.B21-8That again: circle, balance, change
I.B31-8That again
I.B41-8That again
II.A1-2Change with neighbor, moving backward, passing right shoulder
3-4Change with partner (moving forward)
5-8That again, change with neighbor, partner
II.B11-4End couples cast and meet in center as middles lead to end and cast to ends of a line of four
5-8All set and change with opposite turning right into lines across again
II.B21-8That again: ends cast, middles lead into lines of four, set, change with opposite
II.B31-8That again
II.B41-8That again
III.A1-4All face men's wall, forward a double, face partner, change
5-8All face women's wall, forward a double, face partner, change
III.B11-2Balance back and forward
3-4End couples face (other end couple) and forward a double as middle couples slip out to nearest end
5-8New ends arm right partner once and a half while middles arm neighbor once and a half
III.B21-8That again: Balance, meet or slip and arm right
III.B31-8That again
III.B41-8That again

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=SpringGarden

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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
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.