The Beggar Boy
The Beggar Boy is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1911 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 2). Found in The Playford Ball. It is a proper 3 Couple Longways dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 72 bars. The tune is a jig. It is in the key: G phrygian. An online description of the dance may be found here.
Playford writes:
Lead up all forwards and back That again First and last on each side to the wall, while the 2. cu. meet, back all to your places, men hands and go half round, we. doing the like All that again Sides all That again First and last meet and change places, while the 2. Cu. go back and meet, first four hands and go round, while the other set and turn S. All this again. Arms all That again Back all a D. meet half the S. Hey That again
Neither Playford, nor Sharp gives very explicit instructions on how the half single hays should be danced. Everyone seems to agree that the first half hey is done with the top couple facing down, the others up, and the top and middle couples passing right. For the second half hey, Playford just says That again, while Sharp says Repeat. I would interpret that as the new top (3) couple faces the (same) middle couple and passes right to start. Or perhaps the 1s (now at bottom) pass the 2s (still in middle) right to start. But The Playford Ball says 1st couple {at the bottom} face up, others face down: finish the hey beginning left shoulder. And Colin Hume says the same thing, though in different words Twos face down, pass left shoulder: half a hey. In other words, both of these say not to repeat the half hey but to continue it as if it were a full hey.
The tune, also called The Beggar Boy, appeared in Playford with the dance. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album By Choice. The music is used with permission from the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc.
The animation plays at 90 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
| I.A | 1-4 | Up a double and back |
| 5-8 | Up a Double, back (again) | |
| II.A | 1-4 | Right shoulder siding |
| 5-8 | Left shoulder siding | |
| III.A | 1-4 | Arm right |
| 5-8 | Arm left | |
| I.B1 | 1-4 | 1s+3s face out, 2s in: forward a double and fall back |
| 5-8 | Men circle three, women circle three | |
| I.B2 | 1-8 | That again: Forward a double, fall back, circle three |
| II.B1 | 1-4 | 1s face down and join hands, 2s fall back, 3s face up, 1s+3s switch places |
| 5-8 | Top couples (3s+2s) circle four as bottom couple (1s) set and turn single | |
| II.B2 | 1-4 | 1s face up and join hands, 2s fall back, 3s face down, 1s+3s switch places |
| 5-8 | Top couples (1s+2s) circle four as bottom couple (3s) set and turn single | |
| III.B1 | 1-4 | Taking hands on the sides all fall back a double and come forward |
| 5-8 | 1s face down, others up, half parallel right shoulder heys for three on the sides | |
| III.B2 | 1-4 | Taking hands on the sides all fall back a double and come forward |
| 5-8 | 1s face up, others down, half parallel left shoulder heys for three on the sides |
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 transience of my youtube URLs. 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=TheBeggarBoy
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 © 2020 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This website is copyright © 2021-2026 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.