The Parson's Cap
The Parson's Cap is an English Country Dance. It was devised by Thomas Bray in 1699 and published in Country Dances: Being a Composition Entirely New, London. It was interpreted by Pat Shaw (website) in 1962 and published in Another Look at Playford. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars.
Bray writes:
The 1st. Man cast off to the 2d. Womans place, his Wo. following him to the 2d. Man's place; the 2d. Wo. cast off to the 1st. Mans, place at the same time, his Wo. following him half round, then each Man turn his Wo. round with the right Hand The same thing back again Men and We. cross over with their left Shoulders to each other, and turn back again to the left Hand and meet in the middle of the Room, with their Shoulders to each other, and stand longways of the Room, then each turn right Hand and move to the wall and turn half round, 1st Wo. and 2d. Man follow their Partners, then 1st Wo. and 2d. Man turn to their left Hands round, and Sett their backs to each other, their Partners following them; the 1st. Man pull his Wo. to him, and put her below; the 2d. Man puts his Wo. from him, and put her above So to the end.
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: hand turn (allemande), set, cast, poussette, siding (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=TheParsonsCap
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1962 by Pat Shaw. 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.