Sweet Kate
Sweet Kate is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1670 in The Dancing Master, 4th ed.. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). It is a proper Duple Minor dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 72 bars.
This dance doesn't work well as an animation (at least not one of mine), too much moving of hands, with little moving of feet. I include it merely for the sake of completeness.
Playford writes:
Lead up all a D. forwards and back That again Set your right foot to your woman's, then your left, clap your wo. on her right hand, then on the left, wind your hands and hold up your finger, wind your hands again, and hold up another finger of the other hand, then turn S. All this again Sides all That again As before Arms all That again As before
The animation plays at 120 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
An online description of the dance may be found here.
| I.A | 1-4 | Up a Double, back |
| 5-8 | Up a Double, back (repeat) | |
| II.A | 1-4 | Right Siding |
| 5-8 | Left Siding | |
| III.A | 1-4 | Right Arming |
| 5-8 | Left Arming | |
| B1 | 1-1 | Spring onto left foot on the first beat, strike partner's right foot on the second |
| 2-2 | Spring onto right foot on the first beat, strike partner's left foot on the second | |
| 3-4 | Clap: own hands, partner's right, own, partner's left | |
| 5-5 | On the first beat turn hands as if winding wool, on the second raise a finger of the right hand | |
| 6-6 | On the first beat turn hands as if winding wool (again), on the second raise a finger of the left hand | |
| 7-8 | Turn single | |
| B2 | 1-1 | Spring onto left foot on the first beat, strike partner's right foot on the second |
| 2-2 | Spring onto right foot on the first beat, strike partner's left foot on the second | |
| 3-4 | Clap: own hands, partner's right, own, partner's left | |
| 5-5 | On the first beat turn hands as if winding wool, on the second raise a finger of the right hand | |
| 6-6 | On the first beat turn hands as if winding wool (again), on the second raise a finger of the left hand | |
| 7-8 | Turn single |
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.
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 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.