VIII. THE COUNTRY DANCE
A few country dances are still remembered by old people living in villages, but, unlike the Morris dances, by far the greater number of country dances are recorded both as to steps and figures, so that they do not come under the same heading as the strictly traditional dance. The supposition that “country-dance” is a corruption of “contre-danse,” and that it came to England from France, is not correct. It was in fact, as in name, a country dance, danced by country folk in barn and ale-house and on village greens. It travelled to France, and was called there the “Contre-danse.” Later these dances were adopted by the upper classes and even penetrated into Court circles. At this time they were at their best, and many were danced in the round form, but gradually this form became obsolete, until in the middle of the eighteenth century only the dances “longways for as many as will” were danced.
In Grove’s Dictionary of Music Mr Kidson gives an account of a dance called “Mall Peatly, the new way,” which he has seen danced in a cottage on a Yorkshire moor. “You are to hit your right elbows together and then your left, and turn with your left hands behind and your right hands before, and turn twice round and then your left elbows together, and turn as before and so to the next.” Mr Cecil Sharp has collected a number of country dances still danced by country folk, and Mr Clive Carey has also collected country dances, principally in Sussex. But the great mine of wealth wherein are the greatest numbers of these beautiful, old-fashioned dances is Playford’s Dancing Master.
The first edition of this collection is entitled “The English Dancing Master: or Plain and Easie Rules for the Dancing of Country Dances, with the tune to each dance (104 pages of music). Printed by Thomas Harper, and are to be sold by John Playford at his shop in the Inner Temple neere the Church doore.” The date is 1651, but it was entered at Stationers’ Hall on the 7th of November, 1650.
The next is “The Dancing Master, ... second edition, enlarged and corrected from many grosse errors which were in the former edition.” This was printed by John Playford in 1652 (112 pages of Music). The two next editions, those of 1657 and 1665, each contain 132 Country Dances, and are counted by Playford as one edition. To both were added the tunes of the most usual French Dances, and also other new and pleasant English Tunes for the Treble Violin. (The tunes for the Violin were afterwards printed separately as “Apollo’s Banquet,” and are not included in any other edition of the Dancing Master.) The date of the fourth edition is 1670 (155 pages of Music). The fifth edition, 1675 (160 pages of Music). The sixth edition, from advertisements in Playford’s other publications, appears to have been printed in 1680. The seventh edition bears the date 1686 (208 pages), but to this “an additional sheet,” containing thirty-two tunes, was first added, then “a new additional sheet of twelve pages,” and lastly “a new addition of six more.” The eighth edition was printed by E. Jones for H. Playford, and great changes made in the airs. It has 220 pages, date 1690. The ninth edition, 196 pages, date 1695. The second part of the Dancing Master, 24 pages, date 1696. The tenth edition, 215 pages, date 1698, also the second edition of the second part, ending on page 48 (irregularly paged), 1698. The eleventh edition, 312 pages, date 1701. The twelfth edition, 354 pages, date 1703.
A sixteenth and a seventeenth edition, which, however, are identical, are in the Bodleian Library.
The directions for the dance were written under each, but only the figures are given, but no steps. The following directions for one of the dances, “All in a Garden Green,” will give an idea of the curious phraseology of the book:—
All in a Garden Green. Longways for six.
Lead up all a D. forwards and back, set and turn S. • ; that again : .
First man shake his own Wo. by the hand, then the 2, then the 3, by one hand, then by the other, kisses her twice and turn her • , shake her by the hand, then the 2, then your own by one hand, then by the other, kiss her twice and turn her : .
Sides all, set and turn S. • ; that again : . This as before, the We. doing it : .
Arms all, set and turn S. • ; that again : . This as before, the men doing it : .
A Table explaining the characters which
are set down in the Rules for Dancing
| D. | Is for double. A double is four steps forward and backward, closing both feet. |
| S. | Is for a single. A single is two steps, closing both feet. |
| Wo. | Stands for Woman. |
| We. | Stands for Women. |
| Cu. | Stands for Couple. |
| Co. | Stands for Contrary. |
| 2. | Stands for Second. |
| 3. | Stands for Third. |
| 4. | Stands for Fourth. |
| • | This is for a strain play’d once. |
| : | This is for a strain play’d twice. |
| These two characters expresse the figures of the dance, | |
| ☉ | This stands for the Man. |
| ☽ | This stands for the Woman. |
In 1904 Miss Nellie Chaplin gave a performance of dances including the “Pavane,” “Galliard,” “Allemande,” “Courante,” “Sarabande,” and “Chacone,” and in 1906 led, through her study of old instruments and old music, to an interest in other ancient dances, and with the help of an expert in dancing she deciphered several of the dances from Playford’s Dancing Master, harmonised the tunes, added the appropriate steps from her collaborator’s knowledge of dancing, and began to give public performances of the dances in London and different parts of the country. No one who has ever seen these pupils of hers, with their beautiful, old-fashioned dresses, dancing the old-world dances accompanied by a string quartette and oboe, will ever forget the charm of the performance. Miss Chaplin chose some of the most complicated of the dances for revival, and has made the dancing of them a real art. Some years later, Mr Cecil Sharp published a number of Playford’s tunes and dances which were performed by the young ladies of the South-Western Polytechnic, generally as illustrations of his lectures on folk-dancing. They are now given by the Folk-Dance Society at their performances. His method of giving the dances is different from Miss Chaplin’s, because his pupils, unlike hers, do not use any steps, but only give the figures with a walking or running step, which is the same in all the dances. Which method is best is purely a matter of taste.
Through Miss Chaplin, the Folk-Dance Society, and the Espérance Guild, the country dances are now once more danced by numbers of people all over the country, and it is to be hoped that they will never again recede between the covers of a dancing-master’s book.
The country dance tunes are often ballad tunes.
The tunes played to-day by country fiddlers are often found in early books of opera and printed collections of airs.
For instance, the tune of Tink-a-Tink, a country dance collected by Mr Sharp and published in Set II. of Country Dance Tunes, collected from Traditional Sources, is a song in the Opera “Bluebeard,” by Michael Kelly, published in 1799.
“The Butterfly” in Set I. of the same series is apparently a remembrance of the once popular “I’d be a Butterfly,” the words and melody by Thomas Haynes Bayly. It is included in many books of airs.
The tunes did not always gain by passing through the hands of the village musician.
IX. THE PRESENT-DAY REVIVAL OF
THE FOLK-DANCE
Twenty years ago the folk-dance had almost entirely disappeared, and the first definite effort made to reawaken it was that made by Mr D’Arcy Ferrers, who in 1886 revived the Morris dance in Bidford-on-Avon and round about that neighbourhood. This created great interest at the time, an interest which has since never wholly died out, though but for Mr D’Arcy Ferrers it is probable that the dances of that neighbourhood would have completely disappeared. At that time the traditional “side” had been disbanded, and Mr Ferrers reconstituted the dances from the little that remained in the memories of one or two old men.
He also taught them the tune of Arbeau’s Morris dance which they used as “Morris Off,” and to which they invented a dance which is quite in keeping with other traditional dances.
Later, in 1906, Lady Isabel Margesson interested herself in the dancers, and invited Mr Cecil Sharp and Mr H. C. MacIlwaine to Foxlydiat House, Redditch, where they took down the tunes and dances which were published in their first Morris Book. Later Miss Florence Warren went there to teach both these dances and others which had been collected in the meantime. The Bidford dances were also collected by Mr John Graham and published in The Morris Dances of Shakspeare’s Country. In a recent edition of his Morris Book, Mr Cecil Sharp has omitted these Bidford dances, or retaken them from the Ilmington men, from whom they are believed to have originally been learnt.
But a more important revival took place in 1899, when Mr Percy Manning revived the Headington “Side,” for in this case most of the dancers belonged to the traditional “Side.” An entertainment was given at the Corn Exchange in Oxford, and the following interesting account of it appeared in the local papers:—“When the men danced in unison to the strains of a somewhat primitive fiddler quite a pretty effect was produced, whilst to the onlooker the spectacle was at once a convincing proof of its antiquity, so grotesque were the actions and gestures of the performers. The dance partakes somewhat of the nature of a hornpipe: there is a good deal of action in it, and it cannot be accused of too much sedateness or gravity. The troupe in each dance were accompanied by a fool, generally known as the Squire, who wore a diversified dress, consisting of a silk hat, decked with coloured ribbons, a white smock, and breeches, and one white and one brown stocking. He carried a stick with a bladder and a cow’s tail at either end and frequently applied the stick to the back of the dancers.”
The dances given at this revival were “The Blue-eyed Stranger,” “Constant Billy,” “Country Gardens,” “Rigs o’ Marlow,” “How d’ye do, Sir?” “Bean-setting,” “Haste to the Wedding,” “Rodney,” “Trunk Hose,” and “Draw Back.”
It was during this revival at Headington that Mr Cecil Sharp first took down the tunes of the Morris dances which he afterwards gave to me in 1905. But this revised “side” of Morris men did not survive very long, and in 1905 or before had again given in and no longer danced down “The High” at Whitsuntide as in the old days.
But it was in 1905 that the real and, as I believe, permanent revival of the folk-dance first took place, and it happened in this way. For many years the Working Girls’ Club, of which I am the honorary secretary, had devoted much time to learning national dances, and had already learnt the Scotch dances direct from two Scotchmen and the Irish dances from an Irish lady, so that we were quite ready to learn the English dances in the same way. Mr Cecil Sharp told me about the Headington Morris dancers, and gave me Mr William Kimber’s address. I went to Headington and arranged for him and his cousin to come to London to teach the members of my Club. That first evening was a revelation to me, for I had never seen these London girls, with their natural aptitude for dancing in any form, quite so eager or so quick to learn. In two evenings they had mastered about four Morris dances, and were told by the instructors that they had got the dances quite perfectly.
The following account of that evening is taken from the first book of instructions by Mr Sharp and Mr MacIlwaine—
“The result of their coming far out-ran our fondest anticipations. The Morris, like the magic beanstalk, seemed to outwit the laws of nature: we saw it in the heart of London rise up from its long sleep before our very eyes. In connection with this affair, the mention of that well-beloved fable is appropriate and irresistible. The first dance that was set before these Londoners—upon this occasion which we enthusiasts make bold to call historic—was Bean-setting. It represents the setting of the seed in spring-time. Of course the music, its lilt and the steps that their forefathers had footed to it in the olden time, were as little known to these, the London born, as the tongue and ceremonial of old Peru. As little known, yet not strange at all; it was a summons never heard until now, yet instantly obeyed: because, though unfamiliar and unforeseen, it was of England, and came, even though it was centuries upon the way, to kinsfolk. Let the precisian explain it as he may, that is our way of accounting for an experience both fruitful and astounding. Within half-an-hour of the coming of these Morris men we saw the Bean-setting—its thumping and clashing of staves, its intricate figures and steps hitherto unknown—in full swing upon a London floor. And upon the delighted but somewhat dazed confession of the instructor, we saw it perfect in execution to the least particular. It was even so with the other dances; to see them shown was to see them learned.”
That first evening’s Morris dancing was the beginning of many happy hours of practice culminating in a demonstration of the dances and songs at a Christmas party held in the rooms of the Passmore Edwards’ Settlement in 1905. The revival of the folk-dance, which was at once realised as genuine by many who were there, resulted in a more public performance in 1906, and from that date until the present day a series of Concerts has been given in London and within a radius of thirty miles around, and as far north as Yorkshire and south as Sussex. Besides this, the dancers were almost at once invited to teach the dances, and at the present time have taught in every county, and in villages, towns, schools, clubs, factories, and educational institutions from one end of England to the other. In 1909 the Board of Education sanctioned the dances being used as part of the course of physical exercises and organised play, but until after that sanction the members of the Espérance Club were the only teachers who had learnt their dances direct from the country dancers. The girls soon taught their men friends, and to-day as well as the girls we have several “Sides” of men who both teach and give displays of the dances. Since the visit of the first two Headington men, I have had over twenty dancers up to London, from Headington, Abingdon, Oddington, Yardley Gobion, Northampton, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire, and other places, all of whom have contributed something to our direct knowledge of the dances still to be found in the country; and with Mr Clive Carey and others I have visited different centres of dancing with a view to bringing the dancers to London to teach, collecting all I could about old customs surviving around the dances and getting acquainted with the dancers. I have also sent some of our club members to the country with the same end in view. There is, therefore, at the present time a very strong link between the traditional dancers in the country and the young people in London who are busy practising and passing on the dances, and there is no longer any fear now that the dances will die out completely and be lost to the coming generations.
At first all we had to depend on when teaching the dance was the memory of our working girls who had first learnt the dances, and the manuscript of the music which Mr Sharp had taken down from the men who taught us. Thus it became necessary to make the record more permanent and to leave some guide to the dances with those whom we taught. Mr Sharp and Mr MacIlwaine, with the help of Miss Florence Warren, who danced again and again while the actual steps were being recorded, then published a book of tunes and instructions for the dances, and these have been followed by three more sets of the dances. Mr John Graham published two volumes very shortly after, and Mr Clive Carey, Mr Geoffrey Toye, and I followed with two volumes of tunes and instructions. We are all still engaged both in searching for dances, teaching them, and recording them for future use, and though probably the best and most characteristic dances are now duly recorded, still one is never sure where the work is really ended, and we shall always be glad to hear from any readers of fresh dances, which we shall be glad to investigate and, if genuine, record for future use.
In 1907 Mr Cecil Sharp and I disagreed over the constitution of a committee, and from that date have worked on entirely separate lines. I have kept very carefully to the traditional lines, making a great point of having those whom I send out to teach taught by country dancers without the intervention of professional dance instructors, so that to-day, after eight years’ practice, I believe they are dancing as much like the original dancers as is possible.
After the recognition of the traditional dances by the Board of Education, Mr Sharp started a school of teachers at the London South-Western Polytechnic, and the teachers sent out from there have also taught in different parts of the country. As lately as 1911 these young ladies from the Polytechnic have formed the nucleus of the Folk-Dance Society, with Mr Sharp as Director, while the Espérance Club, as the Espérance Guild of Morris Dancers, also continues its work.
In 1910 I organised a vacation School at Littlehampton in Sussex, when sixty teachers from County Council Schools in different parts of the country met to learn the folk-dances, and later that year I transferred the School, with Miss Florence Warren and Mr Clive Carey as instructors in dance and song, at the request of the Governors of the Memorial Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon to that place, and about two hundred availed themselves of the opportunity of learning the songs and dances.
At this point, owing to Mr Sharp’s criticism of our methods, it was decided to hold a conference to discuss points of difference with a view to making the work at Stratford-on-Avon both national and permanent. In view of this conference, I resigned my position as hon. secretary of the Folk-Dance School at Stratford-on-Avon. But no conference was held, and Mr Sharp was appointed Director of the School.
The School organised by the Espérance Guild was taken back to Littlehampton, and is held there every Easter.
A belated conference was held two years later, with no practical results.
It is hoped that in future some National Centre will be formed which will bring together all those interested in the collection and perpetuation of our English folk-dances, so that nothing of this National treasure be lost to future generations.