Table of Contents

A

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Althea		John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912	Colin Hume	Facing Couples Becket

B

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Baffled Knight		Marjorie Heffer & William Porter 1932	Colin Hume	4 Couple Longways
Beaux of Oak Hill		Elias Howe 1862 Smukler & Millstone ~2008		Duple Minor
Bird in the Cage ~ The Running Set		Cecil Sharp & Maud Karpeles 1918		Square
Birdie in a Cage		Lloyd Shaw 1939		Square
Black Joak		Walsh 1731 Michael Barraclough 2017		Duple Minor
Bonny Breast Knot		English Traditional (date unknown) Maud Karpeles & Cecil Sharp ~1930		3 Couple Longways permutation: 231

C

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Christ-Church Bells in Oxon #2		John Young 1721 Douglas & Helen Kennedy 1929		Duple Minor

E

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Every Lad His Lass Every Lad His Lass ~ Duple John Young 1710 George Williams 2021 Duple Minor Every Lad His Lass ~ Sharp John Young 1710 Cecil Sharp 1916 Triple Minor

H

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Hopatcong Hop		Fried de Metz Herman 1991		Duple Minor

I

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Irish Wash Woman Irish Wash Woman Asa Willcox 1793 Kate van Winkle Keller & Ralph Sweet 1976 Colin Hume Triple Minor Irish Wash Woman ~ Duple Asa Willcox 1793 Kate van Winkle Keller & Ralph Sweet 1976 Colin Hume Duple Minor

J

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Jack-in-the-Box		Colin Hume 1992	Colin Hume	4 Couple Longways

L

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
London is a Fine Town		John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1911		Duple Minor

O

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Old Noll's Jig ~ Hume		Henry Playford 1702	Colin Hume	Duple Minor
Old Oxford		John Young 1718 George Williams 2022	Bare Necessities	Duple Minor

P

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Peace and Plenty - Playford		John Young 1718 George Williams 2022	Bare Necessities	Duple Minor
Perfections of Love ~ Cook		Wright 1740 Tom Cook 1979		Triple Minor

R

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Running Set		Cecil Sharp & Maud Karpeles 1918		Square

S

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Scotch Billy		Walsh 1731 Tom Cook 1979		3 Couple Longways permutation: 231

T

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Thomas I Cannot		John & William Neal 1726 Rich Jackson & George Fogg 1990		Duple Minor

W

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Watton Town's End		John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1911		Duple Minor

Warning: The figures for each dance is generated programmatically by regular expression matching and may be in error. Also, for old dances, they reflect the figures used by the interpreter which may not match those of the deviser.

Jump

Also known as: Leap, Hop, Caper, Saltation.

Bars: 2.

Many dances call for jumps, hops, leaps, etc. Indeed a latin word for "to dance" is saltatio which also means "to jump".

History

Playford uses "jump" in Althea, 1657, "leap" in Mr. Lane's Maggot, 1695, and "hop" in Granny's Delight, 1702.

John Essex, in For the Further Improvement of Dancing,, 1710, said the dancers should jump at the end of every phrase of music:

As it is ordinary that every figure of a Dance ends at every cadence or end of the Aire, it will be proper to make a small Jump upon both Feet.

In the patter for one of his Square Dance introductions, Lloyd Shaw said:

All jump up and never come down, Swing your honey around and around.

Copyright (C) by Bob Osgood.
Reprinted from Sets in Order, Oct, 1949.

This website is copyright © 2021-2026 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.