Mage on a Cree ~ Pat Shaw

Mage on a Cree is an English Country dance that first appeared in Playford’s English Dancing Master in 1651. It was interpreted by Pat Shaw in 1961. It is a dance in a square formation with no progression. No one, not even Playford, seems to know what the title means. “Mage“ might be short for “Magpie“ or “Margory“, “Cree“ might be “Tree“ or maybe not. Or perhaps it refers to Merlin, stuck in a Tree by Nimue. The A strain was published with the dance, Pat Shaw composed a B strain to match, and it was performed by Colin Hume. The animation plays at 115 counts per minute bar normally. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.