Maiden Lane is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master, London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (mod) in 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). Found in The Playford Assembly. It is a proper 3 Couple Longways dance. In this dance the couples are permuted by: 231. It is a USA dance. The minor set lasts 72 bars. It is in the key: G Major.
Playford writes
Lead up a D. forward and back That again All a D. to the left hand, back again The S. Hey on each side Set and turn S. That again Sides all That again Back all, change places That again As before Arms all That again First man change with the 2. wo. first wo. change with the 2. man, while the last changes with his own wo. First man change with his own wo. your wo. change with the last man, while the 2. changes with his own wo. As before.
The tune, Maiden Lane, was published by Playford in 1651 with the dance of the same name. The music was synthesized by Colin Hume's software
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 (no music plays during this slow set). 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.
I.A1 | 1-4 | Up a double and back |
I.A2 | 1-4 | Up a Double, back (again) |
I.B1+2 | 1-8 | Parallel heys on the sides, 1s+2s start by right |
I.C1 | 1-4 | Partners set and turn single right |
I.C2 | 1-4 | That again |
II.A1 | 1-4 | Sharp siding |
II.A2 | 1-4 | That again, sharp siding |
II.B1 | 1-4 | Balance back and change places |
II.B2 | 1-4 | That again (balance and change) |
II.C1 | 1-4 | Partners set and turn single |
II.C2 | 1-4 | That again |
III.A1 | 1-4 | Arm right |
III.A2 | 1-4 | Arm left |
III.B1 | 1-4 | M1/W2 change, then W1/M2 and the 3s change |
III.B2 | 1-4 | M1/W3 change, then W1/M3 and the 2s change |
III.C1 | 1-4 | Partners set and turn single |
III.C2 | 1-4 | That again |
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=MaidenLane
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is out of copyright in the US, but I'm not sure of other jurisdictions. 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
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.