The Young Widow

John Griffiths published A Collection of the newest and most fashionable Country Dances and Cotillions in Providence, RI in 1788. It is the first known such work published in the United States.

The Playford Assembly (Graham Christian) calls this an English Country Dance, but Cracking Chestnuts (David Smukler) calls it an early Contra Dance; showing how uncertain the boundary between the two styles is. I call it an American Country Dance, as something between the two (but it really could pass as an English dance)

Griffiths writes:

Cross Hands --- back again -- lead down the Middle, then turn your Partner up again, and cast off -- the Gent. casts off one Co. to the Ladies side and the Lady to the Gent. Side -- ballance all six -- set and go all round -- second and third Co. balance in the Middle, opposite to each other -- then Half right and left in the Middle.

Asa Wilcox has a slightly different version in her Asa Willcox's Book of Figures:

First & second Gent^m. set together passing first & second Ladies set back again lead Down one Couple back again cross over one Couple six hand half round. top Couple & third Couple set half right & left.

Saltator, A Treatise on Dancing, Boston, 1802:

First couple down the out side, back, down the middle, promenade round, the gentlemen fall in between the second couple and the lady between the third, balance six side-ways, first couple promenade round, fall below the second couple, right and left.

Yet another version appeared in London, in Fentum's A Favorite Collection of Country Dances for the Year 1803.

Left and Hands 3 on the Ladys side, the same on the Gents, down the middle up again, right hand and left.

And in an anonymous publication from Boston in 1807 titled Cotillions & Country Dances.

The 1^st & 2 Couples 4 hands round and back 1^st Couple down the middle [illegible, might be cross] cast off, hands round, 1^st couple stand Still while 2^d & 3^d balance to each other & right & left.

Going back to Fentum, what does "Left and Hands 3 on the Ladys side" mean. Perhaps the 1st+2nd lady left hand turn followed by a circle three? Or more likely three hands across?

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 dances of George Williams (including interpretations like this one) are licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: CC BY-NC-SA license.
An online description of the dance may be found here.

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=TheYoungWidow-Fentum

A1	1-4	On the Ladies' side: left hands across three
	5-8	Circle three left
A2	1-4	On the Gents' side: right hands across three
	5-8	Circle three right
B1	1-8	1s lead down, turn alone, lead back and cast down as 2s lead up
B2	1-8	2s+1s face partner, four changes of rights and lefts

The Young Widow - Fentum