The Young Widow ~ Anonymous

The Young Widow is an American Country Dance first published by John Griffiths in 1788, this version is slightly different, coming from an anonymous publication out of Boston in 1807. It was interpreted by George Williams in 2024. It is a proper triple minor dance.
The Playford Assembly considers this an English Country Dance, while the book Cracking Chestnuts calls it an early Contra Dance. It doesn't look much like a modern contra to me, but it was devised in America, so I shall call it an American Country Dance, as something between the two.
The tune was published by Vincent Horace in about 1809 and was associated with the dance by James Morrison in 1976. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album "At The Ball". It is used with permission of Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc. www.cds-boston...
The animation plays at 112 counts per bar normally, but the first time through the set the dance is slowed down so people can learn the moves more readily. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color, however the border of each dancer indicates what role they currently play so the border color may change each time through the minor set.
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