The Health ~ Sharp#2
The Merry Wassail ~ Sharp
The Health ~ Sharp#2 or The Merry Wassail ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master, London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1916 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 4). Found in The Playford Ball. It is a proper 4 Couple Longways dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a multipart dance. The dance lasts 96 bars. It is in the key: C major.
Lead up a D. and back, set That again
First cu. and last meet, turn back to back, cast off, and going on the outside, the other four to come to your places on the inside, the other as much
Hands all backwards, and go half round to the right, set That back again
First Cu. and last meet, turn back to back, hands backward round to your places The other 4 as much
Change places with your own by both hands, then 1. and 2. the 3. and 4. men change, so the we. doing the like, set Change back again to your places
First and last Cu. meet, clap hands, hands across round to your places The other four as much (or this last passage this) First man and last wo meet and give right hands, first wo. and last man the like, then holding hands across go round to your places The other four as much
Playford published another dance with this name in 1728.
Sharp published two interpretations of Part III, this is the second one.
The tune was published by Playford for the dance. Synthesized music by Colin Hume
The animation plays at 111 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
| I.A1 | 1-4 | Partners lead up a double and fall back |
| 5-8 | Partners set right and honour, set left and honour | |
| I.A2 | 1-8 | That again, up a double and honour |
| I.A3 | 1-4 | End couples back to back, moving toward middle as middle couples cast to ends |
| 5-8 | New middles cast beyond ends and lead back | |
| I.A4 | 1-4 | End couples back to back, moving toward middle as middle couples cast to ends |
| 5-8 | New middles cast beyond ends and lead back | |
| II.A1 | 1-4 | Facing out, circle 8 half to right (clockwise) |
| 5-8 | Face partner set right and honour, set left and honour | |
| II.A2 | 1-4 | Facing out, circle 8 half to left (counter-clockwise) |
| 5-8 | Face partner set right and honour, set left and honour | |
| II.A3 | 1-4 | End couples back to back, moving toward middle as middle couples cast to ends |
| 5-8 | Middles face out, circle four right (clockwise) | |
| II.A4 | 1-4 | End couples back to back, moving toward middle as middle couples cast to ends |
| 5-8 | Middles face out, circle four right (clockwise) | |
| III.A1 | 1-2 | Partner two hand turn half |
| 3-4 | Ends with nearest middle, neighbor two hand turn half | |
| 5-8 | Partners set right and honour, set left and honour | |
| III.A2 | 1-8 | That again: Partners turn half, then neighbors half, honour |
| III.A3 | 1-2 | M1+W4 meet join right hands as M2,W3 cast |
| 3-4 | W1+M4 meet join right hands as W2,M3 cast | |
| 5-8 | New middles right hands across | |
| III.A4 | 1-8 | That again, ends meet, middles cast, new middles right hands across |
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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https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=TheHealth
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.