SCA Dance Cheat Sheets

Chestnut / Dove's Figary

Source: Playford (1651), TPB.

Setting: A longways set of 3 couples.

Version: 1.1

 1- 8  Double forward and back (up and down the hall), repeat.

 9-10  Face your partner. All back away from their partners for a (small) double,
11-12   double forward to change places with partner,
13-16  The three men take hands and go round once, women do the same.

17-24  Repeat 9-16, all ending in their original place.

 1- 8  Arming.

 9-10  Face your partner. All back away from their partners for a (small) double,
11-12   double forward to change places with partner,
13-16  Men do a half hey, women do the same, first couple ending
        in third place and third couple ending in first place.

17-24  Repeat 9-16, all ending in their original place.

 1- 8  Siding.

 9-10  Face your partner. All back away from their partners for a (small) double,
11-12   double forward to change places with partner,
13-16  1st couple leads down the center to the bottom of the set,
        2nd and 3rd couples walking up their own side to
        follow first couple. 2nd couple ends in 2nd place, 3rd
        couple ends in 1st place.

17-24  Repeat 9-16, but with 1st couple casting off up the
        set to end in 1st place.

Discussion:

This dance is interesting because Playford specifies arming as the second verse, and siding as the third; normally this order is reversed. Sharp apparently changed it to be the same as Playford's other dances. No other Playford dances have arming before siding; this dance has arming before siding in later editions of Playford, so presumably it's not just a typo.