The 29th of May ~ Sharp

The Twenty-Nineth of May ~ Sharp

The 29th of May ~ Pat Shaw The 29th of May ~ Hume The 29th of May ~ Sharp

The 29th of May ~ Sharp or The Twenty-Nineth of May ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1686 in The Dancing Master, 7th ed., London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1911 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 2). It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 16 bars.

Playford writes:

First cu. take hands, the 2. cu. doing the like at the same time; then the 1. man puts back his wo. and slips down behind the 2. wo. into the 2. cu. place , while the 2. man draws his wo. to him and slips into the 1. cu. place. Do this back again the same way; Which is the first Strain of the Tune play'd twice over. Then the 1. man change places with the 2. wo. and the 1. wo. with the 2. man; then hands round and back, and when the 1. cu. are at top, they cast into the 2. cu. place. This ends the Tune.
First man and 2. wo. fall back, then lead up to each other and turn back to back, then the 1. wo. and 2. man do the like This is the first Strain played twice. Then take all hands and go round, thill the men are in the we. place and the we. in the men's, then men and we. change places. This ends the Tune.
FIrst man and wo. cross over, and 1. man go round behind 2. wo. and 1. wo. round behind the 2. man, and slip between them; then take hands, and lead up all a-breast and back again. This to the First Strain played twice. Then honour to each other's wo. then to your own, then turn each other's wo. and then your own, the 1. cu. turning into the 2. cu. place. This ends the Tune.

The tune was published by Playford for the dance, The Twenty-Ninth of May. It was synthesized by Colin Hume

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.A1-8Full poussette 1st corners (M1,W2) push
I.B1-21st corners change, 2nd corners change
3-3Circle left a quarter
4-6Circle right three quarters
7-81s cast down as 2s lead up
II.A1-41st corners fall back, then back to back
5-82nd corners fall back, then back to back
II.B1-6Circle left once and a half
7-8Partners change
III.A1-41s cross, go below ending between 2s in a line of four (1s improper)
5-8Line of four up a double, fall back bending the line
III.B1-2Honour opposite sex neighbor, honour partner
3-5Two hand turn neighbor
6-8Two hand turn partner (2s once, 1s half) to proper

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=TheTwenty-NinthOfMay-Sharp

< Prev Top Next >

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.