The dance The Opera appears in the book A New Academy of Compliments Or, The Lover’s Secretary, printed in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1795, which contains dance descriptions on four of its 144 pages. There are a couple of odd things about its appearance in that book. For one thing, it appears twice in the book, with two different descriptions, two pages apart, that seem to be describing the same dance. For another, it seems to be based closely on the dance The Opera, or The Ape’s Dance that appears in Playford’s Dancing Master as far back as 1675, and also appears in a dance manual from 1719.

Lovely Nancy is unusual in that its figures were published by Henry Playford with one name and tune in 1690, then published in 1744 with a different name and tune. It is in 3/4 time. It has become a favorite of the Wayside Inn Steppers, and we do it as our last dance every week.

“Dutchess of Brunswick”, also spelled “Dutches of Brumswick” and “Dutches of Brunswick”, is a lively dance and tune which the Waysiders have been enjoying since  the latter part of 2016.

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Pea Straw is a dance that was described in several manuscripts and publications in the early United States, and we enjoyed dancing it for many months (before the pandemic paused our dancing together.) It features a version of the contra corners figure, done with colonial-style allemandes.

Market Lass first appeared in The New Collection of Country Dances by John Burbank, published in Brookfield, MA in 1799. We have been enjoying this dance for many months now, and want to share it. Continue reading →

“Sweet Richard” is a name that has been used for more than one tune, and more than one set of figures.  What’s more, the same set of figures, danced to the different tunes, becomes a very different dance!  We’ve danced more than one version.   Continue reading →