The Slip

The Slip 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 (website) in 1922 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 6). It is a proper 4 Couple Longways dance. It is a multipart dance. The minor set lasts 120 bars. It is in the key: C major.

Playford writes:
Honour to the presence Honour to your own The two first men hands, and the two first we. hands and fall back from each other, men and we. open, close again, and change places each with his own Fall back again, open, close, and change change places as before

First man lead his wo. down half way, and honour to her Lead her to the bottom and honour to her Then take hands with the last man, his wo. taking hands with the last wo. fall back from each other, open, close, and change places as before, the four uppermost toing the like at the same time That again as at the first

Second man lead down his wo. as before That as before, the rest following in order.

Playford says this dance is "longways for as many as will."

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.

Intro
 
Intro.A1-4Honour the presence
5-8Honour your partner
Intr.B11-2In groups of four, joining hands with neighbor, fall back
3-4Release hands, set, falling back on the first single, coming forward on the second
5-8Partner change
Intr.B21-2In groups of four, joining hands with neighbor, fall back
3-4Release hands, set, falling back on the first single, coming forward on the second
5-8Partner change
Figure repeats 4 times
 
A1-41s lead down halfway and honour
5-81s lead down to bottom and honour as other couples lead up
B11-2In groups of four, joining hands with neighbor, fall back
3-4Release hands, set, falling back on the first single, coming forward on the second
5-8Partner change
B21-2In groups of four, joining hands with neighbor, fall back
3-4Release hands, set, falling back on the first single, coming forward on the second
5-8Partner change

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=TheSlip

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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 © 2021 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
Creative Commons License 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.