Step Stately ~ Sharp

Step Stately is an English Country Dance described in part (the instructions there are incomplete) in the Lovelace Manuscript from about the 1640s but first published in Playford's Dancing Master in 1651. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp in 1916. In a sense it is a proper dance for 3, 5, 7 or 9 couples with no progression. In another sense it is a dance consisting of three (or four) parts: 1) A set piece (whole set) dance using all the couples 2) A quick duple minor dance, danced until everyone is home (note the 1st couple gets home early, they have to wait a cycle). 3) A quick double progression triple minor dance, danced until everyone is home 4) An optional final set piece, honouring the presence. See: https://upadouble.info/danceEvolution/StepStately.php Sharp, and Hume, both suggest using the tune for Jack Pudding for this dance. Colin Hume recommends dancing this with 5 couples, but this animation is a 3 couple version. The animation plays at 120 counts per minute normally. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color. https://www.upadouble.info/ For information on linking to this animation see: https://upadouble.info/about.php#linking