The Young Widow
Triple minor (or 3 Co long set) Griffiths 1788
Recording: young_widow-063_bn6atb-11.mp3.zip
young_widow-dndabl11.mp3.zip
young_widow-053_yvb-03.mp3.zip
Video: http://dancevideos.childgrove.org/ecd/playford/102-the-young-widow
This dance is considered an English Country Dance, but was published in A Collection of The newest and most fashionable Country Dances and Cotillions. The greater Part by Mr. John Griffith, Dancing-Master in Providence. More history at http://www.dancehistoryalive.com/blog/2015/06/the-young-widow/
A1 1st & 2nd Co's Rh across & Lh back as (often omitted) 3rd Co turn Rh then Lh; A2 1st Co lead down, wheel round as a Co (Man backwards), lead up & cast to middle place (improper): B1&2 In side lines of 3 set twice (David Smuckler suggests lead forward & back in lines) then hands 6 L half way round: C1 C1 step back slightly as C3 & C2 face up and down on sides & set twice, C2 C3 & C2 2 changes R&L with hands, neighbours facing to start, C1 step back in on second part of R&L. (In 3C set, they cast to bottom.)
Animation: Young Widow
Video: Young Widow
Source: http://www.cdss.org/CDSS,
Dance and Danceability, Sticker Number: OECDC 2016 - 12
Old instructions file (Triple minor version)
Before Queen Victoria made her dear Albert's death the occasion for a lifetime of sour seclusion, the widow was a provocative and alluring figure. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the widow often enjoyed a better legal status than a mere daughter or wife. She might well have control over her late husband’s money; she could be a woman of enterprise, taking over her husband's business. Still more dangerously, to the prurient (and misogynist) imagination of the time, she had been offered a taste of carnal satisfaction but been denied its daily bread.