Dam it ~ Cook

Dam it ~ Cook is an English Country Dance. It was published by Walsh in 1740 in The Compleat Country Dancing-Master Book 2, 3rd Ed.. It was interpreted by Tom Cook in 1979 and published in Again Let's Be Merry. Originally a Triple Minor this version is a proper 3 Couple Longways dance. In this dance the couples are permuted by: 231. The minor set lasts 48 bars.

Walsh (2nd Book, 63rd dance) writes:

Note: Each Strain twice.

The 1st Cu. turn the 2d Cu. across and turn Partners The 1st Cu. go the Hey with the 3d Cu. The 1st Cu. set and the 1st Man cast off the 1st Wo. at the same Time, cast up to the Top. then take each Hands with the 2d and 3d Cu. and go half round The 1st Cu. meet in the Middle and turn half round, take Hands with the contrary Cu. and go half round, which brings the 1st Cu. into the 2d Cu. Place

The music consists of a 4 bar A strain and 8 bar B strain, both repeated.

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, lead, figure eight, hands across, siding, polka (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=DamIt

The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1979 by Tom Cook. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2025 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.