Contents

The Night Piece

The Shaking of the Sheets

The Night Piece or The Shaking of the Sheets 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 1922 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 6). It is a proper 3 Couple Longways dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 60 bars. It is in the key: D Major.

Playford writes:

Lead up a D. forwards and back That again The middle cu. fall back and slip up, with the first and last cu. change places; that again; that again

Sides all That again First Cu. cross over, fall into the 2. place, cross again, fall into the last, the next cu. as much, the next cu. as much

Arms all That again First man change places with the 2. wo. first wo. change with the 2. man, while the last changes with his own,; then change with the last wo. your wo. change with the last man, while the other changes with his own; set all, and turn S.

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	1-4	Up a double and back
	5-8	Up a Double, back (again)
I.B1	1-4	2s fall back and move up as others face and change, 1s to bottom 3s to middle
I.B2	1-4	Middle couple fall back and move up as others face and change, top to bottom and bottom to middle
I.B3	1-4	Middle couple fall back and move up as others face and change, top to bottom and bottom to middle
II.A	1-4	Right shoulder siding
	5-8	Left shoulder siding
II.B1	1-2	1s cross go below as 2s lead up
	3-4	1s cross again go below as 3s lead up
II.B2	1-2	2s cross go below as 3s lead up
	3-4	2s cross again go below as 1s lead up
II.B3	1-2	3s cross go below as 1s lead up
	3-4	3s cross again go below as 2s lead up
III.A	1-4	Arm right
	5-8	Arm left
III.B1	1-2	M1+W2 change
	3-4	W1+M2 and 3s change
III.B2	1-2	M1+W3 change
	3-4	W1+M3 and 2s change
III.B3	1-4	Partners set and turn single

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=TheNightPiece

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.

Lead up a D. forwards and back That again	The middle cu. fall back and slip up, with the first and last cu. change places; that again; that again

Sides all That again	First Cu. cross over, fall into the 2. place, cross again, fall into the last, the next cu. as much, the next cu. as much

Arms all That again	First man change places with the 2. wo. first wo. change with the 2. man, while the last changes with his own,; then change with the last wo. your wo. change with the last man, while the other changes with his own; set all, and turn S.