The New Conceit
The Merry Conceit ~ Playford, Sharp
The Asparagus Garden/The Sparaguss Garden
The New Conceit or The Merry Conceit ~ Playford, Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1657 in The Dancing Master, 3rd ed., London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). It is a Facing Couples Becket dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a multipart dance. The dance lasts 72 bars.
This dance has a super-abundance of names in the various versions of the Dancing Master. It is called The Merry Conceit in the 3rd-7th editions, also The New Conceit or The Sparaguss Garden again in the 3rd edition, and The New Conceit or The Asparagus Garden in the 4th-6th. To make matters worse there three different Playford dances called Merry Conceit (without a "The") and a dance by Kynaston called The Merry Conceit.
Meet, turn round inward Fall back, turn round outward Slip before your Wo. and back again behind her, arms with the Co. That again slipping behind her first Left hands to your own and turning her quite round, give right hands to the Co. Left hands to the Co. and right to your own First Wo. walk round her man on the outside, then go through the 2. Cu. her man following her to their places, the the 2. Cu. the like Back to back with the Co. Than your own Men cast off to the left hand the We. following them and go round, stay in the Co. places, and the men being in the We. places, and the We. in the mens set each to his own We. cast off in like manner, men folloing to your places, set to the Cu.
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 | 1-2 | In a double to meet |
| 3-4 | Turn single toward (men right, women left) | |
| 5-6 | Fall back to places | |
| 7-8 | Turn single away (men left, women right) | |
| I.B1 | 1-4 | Men slip four steps right in front of partner, and 4 steps back behind her |
| 5-8 | Opposite arm right | |
| I.B2 | 1-4 | Men slip four steps right in behind opartner, and 4 steps back in front of her |
| 5-8 | Opposite arm left | |
| II.A | 1-4 | Partner left turn, take opposite by the right and change |
| 5-8 | Take opposite by left and change, turn partner right turn | |
| II.B1 | 1-8 | W1, facing partner, passes him by right, turns right and followed by partner, walks between 2s, turns left returning to places |
| II.B2 | 1-8 | W2, the same |
| III.A | 1-4 | Opposite back to back |
| 5-8 | Partner back to back | |
| III.B1 | 1-4 | Men cast left, and, followed by partner, go three quarters round the set to the opposite's place |
| 5-8 | Partner set right and honour, set left and honour | |
| III.B2 | 1-4 | Women cast left, and, followed by partner, go three quarters round the set to original places |
| 5-8 | Opposite set right and honour set left and honour |
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=TheNewConceit
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.