The Wives' Victory

The Wives' Victory is an English Country Dance. It was devised by Thomas Bray in 1699 and published in Country Dances: Being a Composition Entirely New, London. Found in The Playford Assembly. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 32 bars.

Bray writes:

The 1st Man take his Wo. by both Hands, and pull her to him, and put her from him in the middle of the Room; the 2d. Man puts his Wo. from him at the same time, and pulls her to him, till he comes into the middle of the Room, with his right shoulder to the 1st. Wo. turns to her left hand into her Mans place, ast at first; the 1st. Man and 2d. Wo. go half round at the same time to their own Partners place as at first The same again, only the 1st. Man and 2d. Wo. must be with their right Shoulders to each other in the middle of the Room, and change paces with the right Hand, and both turn to the left Hand to their proper places as at first, the 1st. Wo. and 2d. Man go half round, at the same time to their places as at first Then both the Men change places with their We. with the right Hand, and back again with the left; 1st. Man cross over with the 2d. Wo. the other cu. do the same after them All four Hands half round to the left Hand, and all turn S. then all four Hands half round round to the left Hand again, and each Man change places with his own And 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.

A11-4Three eights of a poussette, 2nd corners push, until 2nd corners meet in the middle the second time
5-82nd corners right turn half and turn single left out to partner's home as 1st corners circle half counter-clockwise to partner's home
A21-4Three eights poussette, 1st corner people push
5-81st corners right turn half and turn single left home as 2nd corners circle half counter-clockwise home
B11-4Partner right turn half, left turn half
5-81st corners change by left, 2nd corners change by right
B21-4Circle left half and turn single left
5-8Circle left half and partner two hand turn half

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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The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1962 by . 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
Creative Commons License 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.