playford

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====== Black Bess ======

Playford, //The Dancing Master//, 1696-1728.\\
Nicolas Broadbridge and Marjorie Fennessy, //Purcell's Dancing Master//, 1997.

Henry Purcell, "The Rival Sisters", 1695.\\
6/8, D major
   
<code>
Proper duple-minor longways.

A1 1-4 First man wide cast down one place while second man move up.
   5-8 Ones back-to-back by the left along the second diagonal.
A2 1-4 First woman wide cast down one place while second woman move up.
   5-8 Second corners back-to-back by the right along the first diagonal.
B1 1-4 Partners back-to-back.
   5-8 Partners pass right for a circular hey, three changes.  All end at home.
B2 1-2 First corners change by the left.
   3-4 Second corners change by the right.
   5-8 Partners two-hand turn once and a half.
</code>

In the "Tell Me More" article about "Orange Nan" (//CDSS News//, September/October 2006), Graham Christian writes, "Orange Nan’s name, for instance, turns up in the third issue of a short-lived periodical called //The Wandering Whore// in 1660 among the common whores, where she jostles for attention with the likes of Black Bess (the dedicatee of another dance), Fair Rosamond, and Mrs. Bliss."

/* Comment added to note Robert Messer removed reference to Dick Turpin */
/* Since Dick Turpin was born in 1705, his horse Black Bess would not have been known when this dance was first published in 1696. */

playford

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