Faded: A New English Country Dance

Song: "Faded" by Alan Walker

Sheet Music: Faded by Alan Walker - Cello, Viola, Violin - Intermediate Digital Sheet Music | Sheet Music Plus

Video of this arrangement: Faded - Alan Walker - String Quartet Cover

Choreographed by me for my event Jane Austen's 250th Birthday Ball, which I held on December 16, 2025.

If you want to use my introduction and/or choreography, contact me beforehand to tell me about it and then give me credit. :) 

I love electronic dance music and Alan Walker, and this song is one of the greatest EDM hits of all time: the music video has over 3.9 billion views on YouTube. This song is perfect for Persuasion! If I had commissioned Alan Walker to make a song for my ball for Persuasion, this would have been it.

How I introduced this dance at my ball

This is our dance for Persuasion. “Faded” fits the time after Anne and Captain Wentworth’s broken engagement before they come back into each other’s lives. Here is an excerpt from the novel:

“A few years before, Anne Elliot had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early; and as even in its height, her father had found little to admire in her, (so totally different were her delicate features and mild dark eyes from his own), there could be nothing in them, now that she was faded and thin, to excite his esteem.”

Here is an excerpt from the lyrics. Imagine the speaker is Anne, and the “you” is Captain Wentworth.

Where are you now?

Atlantis
Under the sea

Where are you now?
Another dream

I'm faded

Faded

Longways proper
Three couple
Chassé and chassé setting steps

Introduction

• 16 beats: Honor your partner.
• Gentlemen bow and Ladies curtsy.

Verse

• 16 beats: First couple pirouette allemande.
• Gentleman take Lady's right hand in his and turn her underarm. Gentlemen take Lady's left hand in his and turn her underarm.
• 16 beats: The top couple cast off, the second and third couples follow.

Pre-chorus

• 32 beats: En Passant. 
• Always passing right shoulders, 1s go behind your 2, below the opposite 3, below your 3, behind the opposite 2, back to places.

Chorus

• 16 beats: The three Ladies and the three Gentlemen set and lead through.
• 8 beats: First couple pass round each other's situations.
• The Lady and Gentleman move in a clockwise direction; they form a complete oval, which brings them to their original situations, and finishes the figure.
• 8 beats: Pass round each other's situations.
• The first and second Ladies and first and second Gentlemen move in a clockwise direction; they all form complete ovals, which brings them to their original situations, and finishes the figure.
• 16 beats: Chain figure of six.
• 16 beats: Cross over two couples. 
• Always passing right shoulders, 1s cross behind your opposite 2 and above your 3 (second and third couples move up).

Repeat whole dance (verse, pre-chorus, and chorus) from progressed position.

Note: You will need an ASCAP license to use the song for your event if it qualifies as a public performance (check with ASCAP) and your venue does not have a blanket license (check with your venue).