Upon a Summer's Day ~ Sharp
Upon a Summer's Day ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). It is a proper 3 Couple Longways dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a USA dance. The dance lasts 120 bars. It is in the key: G Minor.
This is the first dance in the first edition of the first book published about English Country Dance.
Playford writes:
Lead all a D. forwards and back, set and turn S. That again The men take all hands, and the we. hands, meet all a D. back again; the first on each side go under the others Arms on their own side and meet below Hands again, and the next cu. as much Hands again, and the next cu. as much ·: Sides all, set and turn S. That again As before ·: Arms all, set and turn S. That again As before ·:
The tune, Upon a Summer's Day, was published by Playford with the dance of the same name, and the music was synthesized by Colin Hume.
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.A1 | 1-4 | Up a double and back |
| 5-8 | Partners set and turn single | |
| I.A2 | 1-4 | Up a Double, back (again) |
| 5-8 | Partners set and turn single | |
| II.A1 | 1-4 | Right shoulder siding |
| 5-8 | Partners set and turn single | |
| II.A2 | 1-4 | Left shoulder siding |
| 5-8 | Partners set and turn single | |
| III.A1 | 1-4 | Arm right |
| 5-8 | Partners set and turn single | |
| III.A2 | 1-4 | Arm left |
| 5-8 | Partners set and turn single | |
| B1 | 1-4 | Lines of three, forward and back |
| 5-8 | 1s cast down, others make arches on the sides, 1s come in through nearest arch and move to bottom place as others move up | |
| B2 | 1-4 | Lines of three, forward and back |
| 5-8 | 2s cast down, others make arches on the sides, 2s come in through nearest arch and move to bottom place as others move up | |
| B3 | 1-4 | Lines of three, forward and back |
| 5-8 | 3s cast down, others make arches on the sides, 3s come in through nearest arch and move to bottom place as others move up |
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=UponASummersDay-Sharp
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 © 2024 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This website is copyright © 2021-2025 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.