Ten Pound Lass is an English Country Dance. It was found in the Lovelace Manuscript (written somewhere around the 1640s) and later published in The Dancing Master, 4th ed.. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1911 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 2). It is a 4 Couple Longways dance with the 3s, 4s improper. There is no progression in this dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 72 bars.
This dance appears in the Lovelace Manuscript, but the instructions there are incomplete.
Playford writes:
Back all a D. meet again Lead up forward and back Go all to the left and cross the Room, then change all places with your own All that again to your places Sides all That again First and last cu. meet, take hands and go round while the other go back, the 2. cu. slip up and the 3. down, set and turn S. All this again to your places. Arms all That again Meet all and change places, then hands all on each side, hands and go half round All that again
The animation plays at 120 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
I.A | 1-4 | Fall back a double, and come forward |
5-8 | Up a double, and back (again) | |
I.B1 | 1-4 | Face men's wall, forward two doubles |
5-8 | Face in, partner change | |
I.B2 | 1-4 | Face women's wall, forward two doubles |
5-8 | Face in, partner change | |
II.A | 1-4 | Right Siding |
5-8 | Left Siding | |
II.B1 | 1-4 | End couples meet and circle four while middles fall back and slip out |
5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
II.B2 | 1-4 | New end couples meet and circle four while new middles fall back and slip out |
5-8 | Partner set and turn single | |
III.A | 1-4 | Right Arming |
5-8 | Left Arming | |
III.B1 | 1-4 | Partner change |
5-8 | Each side circle four half | |
III.B2 | 1-8 | That again: Partner change, sides circle four half |
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=TenPoundLass
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
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.