The Duke of Gloucester's March - Playford, 3 Couple is an English Country Dance. It was published by Henry Playford (website) in 1701 in The Dancing Master, 11th ed.. It is a proper 3 Couple Longways dance. In this dance the couples are permuted by: 231. The minor set lasts 28 bars.
Playford writes:
The 1. cu. hands half round, lead through and cast up, the 1. man turns the 2. man, we. the same, Then all four change sides, then right-hands a-cross and goes round, the 1. cu. goes between the 3. cu. and cast up, the other following at the same time, then lead down all a-breast, the 2. cu. being between, fall back and cast off.
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.
A1 | 1-2 | 1s+2s circle left half |
3-6 | 1s lead below 3s and cast back to middle | |
A2 | 1-4 | 1s+2s: Men right turn, women left |
5-6 | 1s+2s partner change | |
B1 | 1-4 | 1s+2s right hands across |
5-8 | 1s, followed by 2s, lead below 3s and cast back to a line of four facing down, 1s in middle | |
B2 | 1-4 | Line of four lead down and fall back bending the line |
5-8 | 1s long 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.
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The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1968 by . My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2022 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.