Sylvia's Serenade

Sylvia's Serenade is an English Country Dance. It was devised by Nathaniel Kynaston in 1716 and published in Twenty Four New Country Dances for the Year 1716. It was interpreted by Tom Cook in 1979 and published in Again Let's Be Merry. Originally a Triple Minor this version is a proper 3 Couple Longways dance. In this dance the couples are permuted by: 312. The minor set lasts 24 bars. The tune is in triple time.

Kynaston writes (Walsh published):

Note: Each Strain twice.

1^st. cu. dance down the middle, cross over below 3^d. cu. then slip outside above the 3^d. cu. and change place, The 2^d. cu. do the same 1^st. wo. set to the 2^d. wo. and cast off; the 1^st. wo. set to the 2^d. Man and cast off, then all four turn single clap hands sides, Thus clap your hands on your thighs, clap hands again, and clap a cross twice, then with your partners, the 1st cu. cast off and turn

John Young republished it in 1718:

Note: Each Strain is to be play'd twice over.

First Cu. dance down the Middle, cross over below 3d Cu. then slip outside above the 3d Cu. and change Places The 2d Cu. do the same First Wo. set to the 2d Wo. and cast off; then the first Wo. set to the 2d Man and cast off, then all four turn single Clap Hands, Sides thus, clap Hands on your Thighs, clap Hands again, and clap a-cross twice, then with your Partner; the first Cu. cast off and turn

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 dance contains the following figures: hand turn (allemande), turn single, cast, lead, lead and cast, (and probably others).

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=SylviasSerenade

The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1979 by Tom Cook. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2025 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.