The Fair Quaker of Deal is an English Country Dance. It was published by Playford (John Young) (website) in 1718 in The Dancing Master, Vol. the Second, London. It was interpreted by A. Simons in 1970. Found in The Playford Ball. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars.
Playford writes:
Note: Each Strain is to be play'd twice over.
The first Man and second Woman Sett and turn single; then the first Couple cast off The second Man and first Woman Sett and turn single, then the second Couple cast off The first Man and second Woman meet and Back to Back, the second Man and first Woman do the same; then all four hands half round backward The first Couple being in the second COuple's Place. lead to the Wall and back again, the first Couple lead thro' the second Couple, and cast off
The Fair Quaker of Deal is a play by Charles Shadwell, first performed in 1710.
The Playford Ball says this dance was interpreted by A. Simons. At one point they give the date as 1970, and at another 1954. It does not appear in the book Kentish Hops, though another dance named The Fair Quaker of Deal may be found there.
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: set, turn single, circle, cast, lead, cross go below, set and turn corners (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=TheFairQuakerOfDeal
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1970 by A. Simons. 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 © 2021,2022,2023,2024 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.