Young Phillis of Wakefield

Young Phillis of Wakefield or Young Phillis of Wakefeild is an English Country Dance. It was published by Walsh in 1715 in Twenty Four New Country Dances for the Year 1715. It was interpreted by Andrew Shaw in 2017 and published in Elephants Stairs. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 48 bars. It is in the key: G Major.

Walsh writes:

The 1^st. cu. lead down through the 2^d. cu. cast up and turn both hands, the 2^d. cu. do the same, this to the tune play'd once, then the men lead in round the two we. clap hands and change places with each other, the two we. do the same, this to the tune play'd twice, then all four take right hands a cross and go half round then take left and go back again back to back with your partners and clap hands and turn single this to the tune play'd three times

Republished by John Young

Note: The Tune is to be play'd Three times over.

The first Couple lead down through the second Couple, then cast up and turn both Honds, the second Cu. do the same Then the Men lead inn round the two Women, clap Hands and change places with each other, then the two We. do the same Then all four take Right-hands a-cross and go half round, then Left and go back again, then Back to Back with your Partners, clap Hands and turn single

The original music was a 16 bar phrase repeated 3 times. Shaw points out it's really an 8 bar phrase repeated (with slightly different endings). Rebecca King wrote matching B and C phrases for Shaw's interpretation.

John Walsh published the tune with the dance, Young Phyllis of Wakefield, and the music was synthesized using Colin Hume's software.

The animation plays at 113 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.

The dance contains the following figures: hand turn (allemande), turn single, turn single cloverleaf, cast, lead, hands across, lead and cast, back to back (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=YoungPhillisOfWakefield

The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 2017 by Andrew Shaw. 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.