Saint Katherine ~ Neal

St. Catherine ~ Neal

Saint Katherine ~ Neal or St. Catherine ~ Neal is an English Country Dance. It was published by Henry Playford (website) in 1701 in The Dancing Master, 11th ed., London. It was interpreted by John & William Neal, Rich Jackson & George Fogg in 1726 and published in A Choice Collection of Country Dances. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars.

John and William Neal published their version of the dance in Dublin about 1726. Rich Jackson and George Fogg interpreted that in 1990.

Jackson and Fogg's interpretation is almost exactly the same as Bolton's except that Bolton has the corners setting forward (and J&F do not) and Bolton has the 2nd corners start setting on the left foot and turn by the left hand. Then Playford (and Bolton) says the 1s should lead down, while the Neals (and J&F) say they should cast down.

The Neals write:

1st ma: & 2d wo: sett & turn single, then turn her wth his right hand:
1st wo: & 2d ma: ye same:
The two first cu: fall back, cross over, & being improper fall back again & cross over own places, then right & left round, & 1st cu: cast off into 2d cu: place
Playford writes:

Note: The first Strain is to be play'd twice, and the second once.

The first Man and second Wo. sett and turn single, then he turns her with his Right-hand quite round The second Man and first Wo. do the same Fall back with your Partners and cross over, then cross back again, Right and Left quite round and lead through the second Couple.

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.

A11-41st corners set and turn single
5-81st corners right hand turn
A21-42nd Corners set and turn single
5-82nd Corners right hand turn
B1-4Face partner, fall back with neighbor, cross, turn back
5-8Again, face partner, fall back with neighbor, cross, turn back
9-14Facing partner, four changes of rights and lefts
15-161s cast down as 2s lead 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.

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=SaintKatherines-Neal

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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 © 2023 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.