Capering & Kickery

February 2019 Gig Calendar

I will spend most of February in Moscow, with one trip to Saratov at the end of the month for a weekend of classes on late nineteenth and early twentieth century dance, with an emphasis on improvisation in everything from tango and foxtrot to polka mazurka and quadrilles.  This is something of a sequel to my intensive weekend in Samara three years ago.  I'm really excited about teaching this material -- finally, back to advanced nineteenth century! -- and visiting a new Russian city!

Other than that -- my usual classes, a waltz party, and balls to attend!

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Tuesdays, February 5th, 12th, 19th  ~ Moscow, Russia
Cross-Step Waltz for Beginners: Skater's Variations (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-8:15pm; practice time 8:15-8:45pm
Concentration on "skater's" variations done with matched feet and making smooth foot changes, plus a cross-step line dance!  Pay by the week or for a full month including the waltz party on the 26th.

Tuesdays, February 5th, 12th, 19th ~ Moscow, Russia
Intermediate Cross-Step Waltz: Skater's Variatons (VK post - in Russian)
8:45-10:00pm; practice time 8:15-8:45pm
More complex figures and techniques for shifting between shadow, skater's, hammerlock, and cradle positions.  Pay by the week or for a full month including the waltz party on the 26th.

Thursday, February 7th ~ Moscow, Russia
Open Cross-Step Practice (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-9:00pm
Open dance floor for cross-step practice.  I will DJ and practice with people individually but am not doing any formal teaching.

Thursday, February 14th ~ Moscow, Russia
Late 19th Century Polka Mazurka Variations (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-9:00pm
Improvisation in polka mazurka using steps and sequences from American variations of the 1880s.  Emphasis on musicality.  Steps work with polka-mazurka, redowa, and mazurka music.

Saturday-Sunday, February 23rd-24th - Saratov, Russia
Master Classes in XIX and XX Century Dance (VK community - in Russian)
Weekend of classes in the dances of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century; emphasis on couple dance improvisation.  Topic include: late nineteenth century waltz, polka, and polka-mazurka variations; 1840s polka figures and the Orientale; 1910s tango and foxtrot; and American-style called quadrilles (both dancing and calling).

Tuesday, February 26th ~ Moscow, Russia
Mardi Gras Waltz Party
7:00-10:00pm.  Waltz, waltz, and more waltz!  Light refreshments.  Purple/green/gold clothing and masks encouraged (but not required)!

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I am available for private lessons in Moscow, or while on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

Moscow, Russia: February 1-21, 25-28

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The Kosmos Club's Ball, 1895

Image courtesy of The New York Times

One hundred and twenty-four years ago today, Brooklyn's Kosmos Club planned a Valentine's-eve costume ball, which was written up in the society column of The New York Times on February 12, 1895. As is often the case, there's no description of the social dance program, but there are some interesting tidbits about the overall ball format.

First, a bit about the folks putting on the ball.  The Kosmos Club was a women's club, part of a general social movement towards clubs of all kinds during the late nineteenth century.  According to the 1904 edition of the directory Club Women of New York, it was founded in 1894 with the following mission statement:

"The object of this club shall be to form a nucleus for intellectual, social, patriotic, and philanthropic development."

Further details in the listing include the meeting schedule and that the club membership was one hundred.  Club Women of New York was, literally, a listing of women who were members of New York City clubs, and Kosmos Club membership appears next to dozens of names.

The location of the ball was the (men-only) Union League Club of Brooklyn, shown above left (click to enlarge).  A dramatic building, complete with turret, it was relatively new at the time, having been built only in 1890.  According to The New York Times, the club itself was founded in the 1860s to support the Union cause during the Civil War.  More about the club and its then building may be found at The Times, here. The building, sadly stripped of its turret, still exists today; a photo is at the preceding link.  The Union League itself is long gone, however; according to the site Brownstoner, the building was taken over by The Unity Club, a Jewish organization, in 1914, and remained in their hands until they bought a different building in 1944. 

The New Side Step Polka

"There are some variations which may be introduced with advantage.  Of these the so-called 'Ostend Polka' and 'American' or 'Side-step Polka' are among the best."  -- Lilly Grove Frazer, Dancing (London, 1907), p. 421.

I'm not actually certain that Lady Frazer was referring to the New Side Step Polka given by M. B. Gilbert in Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) and, more-or-less, in G. W. Lopp's  La Danse (Paris, 1903) as the Nouvelle Polka Dansée de Côté.  I don't see anything in this variation that warrants that level of praise; if anything, I find it slightly annoying.  But the way in which it is annoying is interesting, so I'll take a quick look at it just to be thorough.

The New Side Step Polka is attributed to J. G. Hoffman of Waverly, New York.  Working from Gilbert, the reconstruction is fairly straightforward, allowing for Gilbert's typical omissions.  The steps given below are the gentleman's; the lady dances opposite.

New Side Step Polka (8 measures of 2/4 time)
1       Point left foot to 2nd position
2       Hop on right and bring left to 3rd position raised
&1   Slide left to side and close right [with weight]
&2   Slide left to side and close right [without weight], making a half-turn

2b    Repeat all of the above starting on the right foot

4b   Polka

Les Cinq Parties du Monde

When I watched a performance of an unfamiliar quadrille back in December, I was informed that it was called Les Cinq Parties du Monde and was from 1876.  Both pieces of information turned out to be...not entirely accurate.  And I was far from the only person fascinated by the unusual figures; at least two French researchers and one Russian have taken a crack at them as well.  As a result, this is an interesting opportunity to compare different people's work and demonstrate why I disagree with some of their decisions.

But first, the basics: the figures were indeed published with the quadrille music "Les Cinq Parties du Monde" in 1876.  They are credited to Henri Cellarius "neveu", the illegitimate nephew of the more famous Cellarius.  The music is by Emile Kohler.  The sheet music cover may be seen above (click to enlarge).  So why do I disagree?

Well, as part of my reconstruction process, I look at other works by the same author to see if there are any clues about some of the more unusual descriptions.  I am only aware of one other publication by Cellarius neveu, another polka quadrille, Arcachon, published in 1865, with figures by Cellarius neveu and music by H[ippolyte]. Barrez.

Both sets are available online at the Bibliothèque nationale de France; look here ("Cinq Parties") and here ("Arcachon") for reference.

But when I looked at the figures included with the "Arcachon" music, hoping for some useful insights, I discovered that the figures were exactly the same as those with the "Cinq Parties" music.  Not only did I not get any new information, I got a puzzle to solve.  Two sets of quadrille tunes with the same figures published eleven years apart is somewhat odd.  Were either of the dates wrong? 

Nope!  

Here (second listing from the top in the right-hand column) is the "Arcachon" music listed in the 1865 Bibliographie de la France, and here (halfway down the left column; second listing under "Musique Pour Piano") is the "Cinq Parties" music listed in the 1876 edition.  "Arcachon" is definitely the earlier publication.  The "Cinq Parties" music must have been written, or at least arranged, specifically for these figures, since they're of unusual lengths.  But why?  The figures are certainly unusual, but were they so popular that they needed a new set of tunes?  Was Cellarius neveu so famous that it was worth republishing his figures eleven years later, but not famous enough to have any more (surviving?) published work?  I feel like there might be an interesting story here, but I don't know what it is.

Reconstruction-wise, knowing the figures are from 1865 means that figure performance needs to take into account the massive hoop skirts of the mid-1860s, such as the one shown at left (click to enlarge, or look at more illustrations here).  Even if you exclude the train, which might have been looped up for dancing, that's still a whole lot of skirt to accommodate, which affects how I choose to reconstruct and perform some figures.

 

 

 

 

 

January 2019 Gig Calendar

Happy new year!  January is going to be a quiet month for me.  I'm going to DJ blues in Russia for the first time at a swing dance camp, which I'm really looking forward to, and restart my regular waltz and historical dance classes and parties at some point (edited 1/27/19 to add) with a waltz evening at the end of the month before beginning regular classes in February.  Most of my time after the holidays (through January 8th in Russia!) is going to be spent on some research projects and pulling together a bunch of material for my February weekend in Saratov.

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Friday/Saturday, January 4th/5th ~ Moscow, Russia area
Moscow Christmas Swing Dance Camp (January 3rd-8th)
Five-day camp covering Lindy, Balboa, blues, and more.  I will be DJing a blues set or two late (after 1:00am) the night of the 4th -- technically, in the very early hours of the 5th.

Tuesday, January 29th ~ Moscow, Russia
Winter Waltz Party (VK Event - in Russian)
7:00-10:00pm.  Waltz, waltz, and more waltz.  Light refreshments.

Thursday, January 31st ~ Moscow, Russia
Private class

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I am available for private lessons in Moscow, or while on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

Moscow, Russia: January 6-31

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Coming in February: a weekend of nineteenth and early twentieth century dance in Saratov!

"La Contre Danse", cotillion figure (1900)

There are plenty of cotillions - in the sense of "nineteenth-century dance games", not "eighteenth-century French square dances" - that are some variation on "form a square or longways set and do a quadrille figure or country dance".  "La Contre Danse" is an interesting take on this theme from W. Gilbert Newell, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was published in St. Louis dancing master Jacob Mahler's compilation, Original Cotillion Figures (St. Louis, 1900).  It caught my eye because of the unusual formation: couple facing couple across a longways set, as in the American contra "The Tempest", the English "Polka Contre Danse", or quadrille figures done in columns rather than squares.  I can't be certain that this is the only cotillion figure using this formation -- hundreds of them were published from the early nineteenth into the early twentieth century, and I can't claim to have looked at them all -- but it's the only one I've found so far.

"La Contre Danse" is relatively complicated as figures done in sets go.  It opens and closes with two-step done in couples, and in between there is a brief march to set up the longways set before the actual contra/country/contre danse figures begin.  Here's how it works:

Against the odds

I recently made note of a mailing list post that referred to dances done at American Civil War reenactments, such as the Virginia Reel, and couple-facing-couple dances like the Spanish Dance/Waltz, as "historically-flavored".  I don't think the poster meant to imply that these dances were actually ahistorical; this is someone whom I'm certain knows better.  But there's an interesting underlying point I wanted to expand on in this, which is that it's possible to have an entire ball full of historically-appropriate, accurately-reconstructed dances, and still have the ball as a whole not be convincing as a historical event.  Because having all the dances accurate to the time period is not enough.  There are at least two other external factors to consider: the geographic setting and the specific type of ball and ball attendees.  A ball held by a member of high society in New York City is not going to have the same dance repertoire as a ball set in a frontier town in Oregon, even if they are both set in 1898, and a middle-class French ball would be even more different. 

There is also an internal element, which is the mix of dances and the proportions of different types of dances.  It's fairly clear to me that the most typical ball format for an American ball in the last half of the nineteenth century included large numbers of quadrilles (choreographed classics like the Lancers and Caledonians and some that were probably called on the spot by the ball's master of ceremonies), smaller numbers of couple dances, and a modest number of contra (country) dances, which included both ones "formed as for the Spanish Dance", meaning in a "Sicilian circle" of couple facing couple, and more conventional longways proper dances.  This would vary somewhat by location and social class, of course.

Note that this applies only to balls which are actually attempting to reenact specific times and places.  Events along the lines of "everyone put on a costume and lets dance some random dances" are not what I'm talking about.

Death by Persuasion (Midsomer Murders, Season 19, Episode 5)

I'm always pleased to see any film or television production make an effort to get the historical dancing right, but it's a big surprise when it more-or-less happens in a television series, which one doesn't necessarily expect to have the budget for a dance historian as choreographer and the proper music, or anyone on staff who even knows they need such.  I plowed reluctantly through a ninety-minute episode of a television show that, on the whole, I had no interest whatsoever in only to experience the delightful surprise of just under seven minutes of historically correct music and dancing that ranged from "acceptable kludge for television" to "wow, they got it RIGHT!"

That, as they say, was unexpected.  

Spoiler: I think I spotted Ellis Rogers, who literally wrote the book on quadrilles, in the background of a couple of scenes.  His involvement would explain a lot.  Unfortunately, the credits for the episode list Jim Parker for the music (which he may have played, conducted, or arranged, but certainly didn't compose) and no one at all for dance or choreography.

"Diamond" Reel of Six

This is an interesting little reel for two gentlemen and four ladies which I would consider reasonable for anywhere from the late 1820s to, at least in Scotland, the 1870s or even later.  I'm hesitant to date it too specifically since neither of the sources I have are precisely dated, and while one is at best late 1820s and the other well into the mid-nineteenth century, this reel is perfectly compatible with Regency style.  Unless I were in a particularly strict-constructionist mood, I wouldn't blink an eye to see it performed at a Regency event.

I have only two sources for this Reel of Six: Lowe's Ball-Conductor and Assembly Guide, third edition (Edinburgh, c1830) and The Excelsior Manual of Dancing, by J. F. Wallace (Glasgow, c1875).  The dating on The Excelsior Manual is especially fuzzy.  The dances could be from as early as c1860, but the illustrations of the ladies dresses suggest the early 1870s to me.  In Traditional Dancing in Scotland, J. P. and T. M. Flett list it as c1872.  A later edition of The Excelsior Manual (datable from its contents to no earlier than the mid-1890s and listed by the Fletts as c1900) does not include this Reel of Six.  Nor have I found it in any other Scottish dance manuals of the nineteenth century, though my collection of those is thin enough that I wouldn't take that as a definitive statement about it having never appeared elsewhere.

Unlike most reels for six dancers, this reel is in "diamond" formation, like a Reel of Five.  The four ladies are at the four points of an imaginary diamond with the two gentlemen back to back in the center, and the reels are reels for four dancers rather than for three.  

In complexity, this Reel of Six falls somewhere between the simpler Reels of Five and the very elaborate one created by Regency London dancing master Thomas Wilson, which I described here.  There is no added circling or passing under arms, but it does include the fast cross by the outside dancers between the heying (reeling) dancers.  This is actually easier to pace with six dancers rather than five.  Other than that little detail, it consists of a standard alternation of heying (reeling) and setting, tweaked to accommodate the two extra ladies.  But unlike Wilson's choreographed reels, the sources for this one are impeccably Scottish.

CD Review: The Grand Victorian Ballroom

The Grand Victorian Ballroom: Waltzes, Quadrilles, Contras, Polkas, and Other 19th Century Dance Music (Gaslantern Records, 2012), with its accompanying sheet music, is the second of two CDs I received for my birthday earlier this year, along with North & South.  But unlike North & South, this album was designed for dancing, so it is both beautifully played for listening pleasure and entirely functional as dance music.  The musicians, once again, are the members of the Orchestra of the Gilded Age (I still don't know exactly who those members are) conducted by Jeffrey Hunter.

As with North & South, there are no liner notes included with the disc, but the Gaslantern website has all the details of sources, composers, dates, etc.  All of the tunes except the two contra dances are dated between 1850 and 1870, perfect for a mid-century or American Civil War-themed ball.  The contras are also quite appropriate; though their tunes are older, they were still popular and attached to common dances in this era. 

While the focus is on American composers, the album includes the two quadrilles with European connections: the Prince Imperial Quadrille (French, but popular in America) and a Lancers set adapted from Jacques Offenbach's opera, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein.

My immediate advice: if you enjoy mid-nineteenth-century dancing, proceed directly to Gaslantern's website to order this CD.  It's not available digitally; you have to buy the actual disc.  The sheet music can be ordered in either physical or PDF format and includes dance notes for the quadrilles and contras. 

If you want more information first, a track-by-track breakdown is below.  

The Grand Victorian Ballroom: Waltzes, Quadrilles, Contras, Polkas, and Other 19th Century Dance Music (Gaslantern Records, 2012), with its accompanying sheet music, is the second of two CDs I received for my birthday earlier this year, along with North & South.  But unlike North & South, this album was designed for dancing, so it is both beautifully played for listening pleasure and entirely functional as dance music.  The musicians, once again, are the members of the Orchestra of the Gilded Age (I still don't know exactly who those members are) conducted by Jeffrey Hunter.

As with North & South, there are no liner notes included with the disc, but the Gaslantern website has all the details of sources, composers, dates, etc.  All of the tunes except the two contra dances are dated between 1850 and 1870, perfect for a mid-century or American Civil War-themed ball.  The contras are also quite appropriate; though their tunes are older, they were still popular and attached to common dances in this era. 

While the focus is on American composers, the album includes the two quadrilles with European connections: the Prince Imperial Quadrille (French, but popular in America) and a Lancers set adapted from Jacques Offenbach's opera, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein.

My immediate advice: if you enjoy mid-nineteenth-century dancing, proceed directly to Gaslantern's website to order this CD.  It's not available digitally; you have to buy the actual disc.  The sheet music can be ordered in either physical or PDF format and includes dance notes for the quadrilles and contras. 

If you want more information first, a track-by-track breakdown is below.  

December 2018 Gig Calendar

I'll have just one short trip in December, plus a Christmas waltz party and wrapping up my classes for the year!  Plus, I'll be teaching a quick lesson in cross-step waltz (probably the standard mixer) at a Russian-organized ball.  I'm hoping to do this entirely in my still-fragmented but (hopefully) comprehensible Russian, with no English at all and without using a translator.    We'll see how that goes...

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Sunday, December 2nd ~ Moscow, Russia
Cross-Step Waltz Lesson at "Back to the USSR" Ball  (VK event - in Russian)
4:00pm (ball begins)
A brief (10-minute) introductory lesson as part of a much larger multi-teacher event to be held in a Soviet-era bunker!

Tuesdays, December 4th, 11th, 18th  ~ Moscow, Russia
Cross-Step Waltz for Beginners (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-8:30pm
Introduction to all basic figures of cross-step waltz.  Pay by the week or for a full month including the waltz party on the 25th.

Tuesdays, December 4th, 11th, 18th ~ Moscow, Russia
Intermediate Cross-Step Waltz (VK post - in Russian)
8:30-10:00pm 
More complex figures and techniques for cross-step waltz.  Pay by the week or for a full month including the waltz party on the 25th.

Thursdays, December 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th ~ Moscow, Russia
Belle Epoque (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-8:30pm
Continuing my autumn course of dances of late 19th century France.  Pay by the week or by the month.

Thursdays, December 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th ~ Moscow, Russia
Unusual 1910s Dances (VK post - in Russian)
8:30-10:00pm
My ongoing autumn course on the more unusual dances of the 1910s, including improvisation in the maxixe and hesitation waltz, the social dances of Anna Pavlova, and perhaps a few small surprises!  Pay by the week or by the month. 

Saturday-Sunday, December 15-16th ~ Vladimir, Russia
Dance Weekend (VK group - in Russian)
Classes Saturday (2:00-9:00pm) and Sunday (10:00am-12:00pm) and a "Journey Around the World" party Sunday afternoon/evening (3:00-9:00pm) (VK party event - in Russian).  Saturday classes will cover late nineteenth century French schottische and Pas de Quatre, several group dances of the era, and some American mixer dances from the 1940s.  Sunday's classes will be primarily 1910s Half & Half and sequences (tango and hesitation waltz), possibly with some French group dances spilling over from Saturday.  Party dress code: 1880s-1910s or modern formal or military uniform.

Tuesday, December 25th ~ Moscow, Russia
[Western] Christmas Waltz Party (VK event - in Russian)
7:00-10:00pm.  Waltz, waltz, and more waltz.  Light refreshments.

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I am available for private lessons in Moscow, or while on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

Moscow, Russia: December 1-14, 17-31

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Giving Thanks!

It's that time of year again!  America celebrates Thanksgiving, and this American living abroad, sans turkey and trimmings, celebrates by thanking two sets of organizers who have hired me regularly for events. 

As everyone who knows me understands, I love visiting new places and teaching new groups.  But it's also a special delight to have places and events I return to regularly, making friends and developing communities and watching dancers progress over time.

First, my thanks to John and Nancy Newbold, who have hired me every year since 2007 (with me missing 2016 through no fault of theirs) to conduct one or both of their balls for the Remembrance Day Weekend in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  I just returned from Gettysburg a few days ago after conducting both balls, and I was reminded once again how wonderful it is to be welcomed year after year by the Remembrance Day Ball regulars and to be able to bring new material to such a friendly group, savor the joy of leading groups of such varied skill levels successfully through dances, and simply see everyone having such a good time.  (And those chocolate-framed favors...mmm!)

Second, my thanks to Oleksii Kryvenko and Svetlana Evsyukova, organizers of three Vintage Dance Exchanges and three Waltz Weekends in Kyiv, Ukraine, from the spring of 2016 to just a few weeks ago.  My being able to visit and teach the same core group repeatedly half a dozen times over a few years has resulted in a small group of dancers with the skill set that makes me happiest, understanding both the common and the distinct elements of modern (cross-step) and historical (19th and early 20th century) dances and being able to combine them smoothly and switch easily between different styles and types of music.  That's something I haven't had since the end of a seven-year stretch of regulars in my old Monday night classes.  It makes me unbelievably happy as a teacher to see a group of dancers really work at these fundamental skills (not always the most fun process!) until practice pays off with this level of achievement.  All credit to Oleksii and Svetlana as organizers and as teachers who review and reinforce what I teach when I visit. And extra thanks to Svetlana for her superb partnering as well!

Having events with both sets of organizers in one month this year was magic.

Thanks.

The Mid-Twentieth-Century Virginia Reel

"The chief trouble, as I said, with the Virginia Reel is the monotonous repetition and waiting for your turn on the corners. This can be obviated by a new form of the dance which is gradually growing in favor. In this form, instead of having corners bow, turn, etc., each gentleman, and all at once, crosses directly over and does all the moves with his own partner. Done carelessly, this leads to wild confusion (but fun). However, if the line of men all advance as a straight line, the ladies the same, and all return to places in straight lines it can be very effective. And everyone is active all the time up to the point when the head couple reels the set."
        -- Lloyd Shaw, in Cowboy Dances: A Collection of Western Square Dances (1939)

It's unclear among whom, exactly, this version was "gradually growing in favor", since one page earlier Shaw had also noted that he had "never seen it with the country folk.  It has strangely survived in schools and in society groups..."  Shaw's mention is the earliest reference I have to this "all-active" (for the opening figures, anyway) version of the Virginia Reel.  The earliest descriptions I have are from somewhat later, though I wouldn't want to make any promises about these being the earliest; my collection of mid-twentieth century dance books is fairly thin.  But by the 1950s, this style of dancing the Virginia Reel seems to have become well-established. 

The Game

That's what it's called among Harvard and Yale students, alumni, and associated parties: The Game.  The annual November football game between the two famous universities is one of the oldest rivalries in collegiate sports, having been played one hundred and thirty-three times, beginning in 1875; the next meeting is Saturday.  It has so much lingering cultural significance that it has its own Wikipedia page.

So, naturally, it also has its own cotillon (dance game) figure, published in St. Louis dancing master Jacob Mahler's Original Cotillion Figures (St. Louis, 1900) back when The Game was a mere quarter-century old.  Mahler attributed "Yale and Harvard Contest" to H. K. Lackland, also of St. Louis.  Interestingly, and unlike other football-related figures I've seen, it doesn't include any actual football.  I can't even be certain it's meant to be associated with The Game, as opposed to the more general rivalry between the schools.  But in November, anything associated with the rivalry becomes part of the Game-related fuss.

Before I describe "Yale and Harvard Contest", let me look at a pair of figures which definitely do involve football (of some kind), both taken from H. Layton Walker's Twentieth Century Cotillion Figures (Two Step Publishing Company, Buffalo, New York, 1912):

La Lyonnaise

Third in my impromptu mini-series of late-nineteenth century French dances based on the schottische or pas-de-quatre is La Lyonnaise, which appears to me to be unimportant in and of itself but somewhat interesting as an example of typical variations and a source for variations to use in improvisation.  Despite having been published in 1890, it does not appear in the seventh edition of Eugène Giraudet's Traité de la danse, published in the early 1890s.  It does turn up by the 58th edition (c1900), which informs us (via the extensive dance glossary in volume II) that Giraudet choreographed it himself.  I don't think it does him any particular credit; it's just a mishmash of steps.

La Franco-Russe

La Franco-Russe is another of the short French schottische-based sequences of the late nineteenth-century France.  Like La Stéphanoise, it is a double-length sequence, eight bars of schottische music, and presumably had its own special tune which has, alas not surfaced during my searches.  Unlike La Stéphanoise, it is more of the Pas-de-Quatre style of schottische (with the dancers holding only inside hands to start and coming together in the second half) and has a clearly-explained reason for its name.  It also differs in having a true "double" (AABB) schottische pattern and no ambiguity in its timing.  And, finally, it may have had a bit more success than La Stéphanoise, or at least been more favored by Giraudet himself.

Giraudet stated that La Franco-Russe was "créée en l'honneur des officiers russes à leur visite à Paris en 1893."  This visit was part of a series of negotiations between France and Russia that led to the Dual Alliance, also known in the west as the Franco-Russian Alliance and in Russia as the Russian-French Alliance.  At left, a French political cartoon from 1893 (click to enlarge) shows the French symbol, Marianne, cuddling with the Russian bear.

There was quite a vogue for things Russian, or imagined to be Russian, in Paris during the early 1890s, and La Franco-Russe is one of several dances with a Russian or Alliance theme.

La Stéphanoise

La Stéphanoise is a schottische-style sequence created and published in the late nineteenth century by French dancing master and writer Eugène Giraudet.  The first reference I have to it is in the seventh edition of Giraudet's Traité de la danse, published in the early 1890s.  Since I do not have any earlier editions, I don't know precisely when it was first included in Traité.  More specifics come from the lengthy dance list in the second volume of the gigantic 58th edition (c1900), where it is attributed to Giraudet himself, with "Hamel" given as the composer of the music and a date of 1892.  The description of the sequence is word-for-word identical in both editions.

The first publication of La Stéphanoise was probably in the form of instructions printed on the eponymous sheet music.  I believe that the full name of the composer was Camille Hamel, who composed other dance music in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including pieces associated with Giraudet, but I have not been able to locate the original sheet music, though there are quite a few pieces with a title that is some variation of La Stéphanoise.  Fortunately, Giraudet specifically stated that "Au cas ou l'on n'aurait pas la musique spécialement réservée à cette danse, il suffira de prendre la musique d'une schottisch quelconque."  (My translation: "In case one does not have the music specially reserved for this dance, the music of any schottische will suffice.")  

Giraudet, never shy about promoting his own works, helpfully explained that:

Cette danse, bien que de création récente, a obtenu dès ses débuts un véritable succès, surtout chez les connaisseurs; aussi les professeurs et artistes, l'ont-il adoptée avec un empressement significatif. L'effet produit par cette nouvelle danse est des plus gracieux, et il n'est pas de bonne société, qui ne la possède dans son répertoire. Le succès, qui l'a accueillie à ses débuts, ne fera que s'accroître, ce qui sera peut-être difficile étant donné l'engoûment actuel.

My loose translation:

This dance, although of recent creation, has obtained, since its début, genuine success, above all among connoisseurs -- also teachers and artists -- who have adopted it with significant alacrity.  The effect produced by this new dance is of the most gracious, and he who does not have it in his repertoire is not of good society.  The success which has welcomed it since its début can only increase, which may be difficult given its current popularity.

November 2018 Gig Calendar

November will be rather hectic, with a journey to Kyiv, Ukraine, for our third Kyiv Waltz Weekend and a grueling weekend trip back to the USA for the Remembrance Day Balls in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  See you on the dance floor!

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Thursdays, November 1st, 8th, 22nd, 29th ~ Moscow, Russia
Belle Epoque (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-8:30pm
Continuing my autumn course of dances of late 19th century France.  Pay by the week or by the month.  NOTE: no class on the 15th as I will be in Gettysburg!

Thursdays, November 1st, 8th, 22nd, 29th ~ Moscow, Russia
Unusual 1910s Dances (VK post - in Russian)
8:30-10:00pm
First in my autumn course on the more unusual dances of the 1910s, including improvisation in the maxixe and hesitation waltz, the social dances of Anna Pavlova, and perhaps a few small surprises!  Pay by the week or by the month.  NOTE: no class on the 15th as I will be in Gettysburg!

Saturday-Sunday, November 3rd-4th ~ Kyiv, Ukraine
Kyiv Waltz Weekend (Facebook event for weekend) (Facebook event for afterparty)
Weekend of waltz workshops and dances, primarily cross-step.  Four hours of classes per day and a Sunday afterparty with DJ music - a combination of waltz and other social dances.

Tuesdays, November 6th, 13th, 20th  ~ Moscow, Russia
Cross-Step Waltz for Beginners (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-8:30pm
Introduction to all basic figures of cross-step waltz.  Pay by the week or for a full month including the waltz party on the 26th.

Tuesdays, November 6th, 13th, 20th ~ Moscow, Russia
Intermediate Cross-Step Waltz (VK post - in Russian)
8:30-10:00pm 
More complex figures and techniques for cross-step waltz.  Pay by the week or for a full month including the waltz party on the 26th.

Friday & Saturday, November 16th & 17th ~ Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
The 16th Annual Remembrance Day Dinner & Ball (Facebook community) 
5:30pm-midnight each day.  TWO nights!  TWO formal dinners!  TWO balls!  Both evenings are formal Civil War-era events with pre-1865 costume (civilian or military) required.  Advance reservations (dinner and ball or ball-only) are needed, and this event generally sells out well in advance!  Friday night's ball is Fancy Dress/Masquerade with a Scottish/Tartan theme, complete with a piper to lead the Grand March.  Saturday will feature a patriotic theme.  I will be calling both evenings this year, with live music both nights and different dance programs!

Tuesday, November 26th ~ Moscow, Russia
Themeless Waltz Party
7:00-10:00pm.  Waltz, waltz, and more waltz.  Light refreshments.

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I am available for private lessons in Moscow, or while on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

Moscow, Russia: November 1, 6-14, 19-30
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA: November 17

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Coming in December: a weekend of historical dance in Vladimir!

An Incident of Parisian Society, 1885

...or, at least, a story about an incident.  I don't have any way to prove that it actually occurred.  But true or not, the story illustrates something I've been noticing about fancy dress balls over the course of the last month.  The story was published in issue #40 (March, 1885) of The Nassau Literary Magazine, which was and is associated with Princeton University and is fully indexed online.  The author was John Cass (J. C.) Mathis, Princeton class of 1886, the author of twenty-eight pieces for the magazine from 1884 to 1886.  These appear to have included fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, so it's hard to say from his publication record whether this story was memoir or fiction.  I lean toward thinking it was the latter, but even as fiction, it's an interesting example of what was seen to be realistic at the time.

The story was supposedly related to Mathis by a friend who had just returned from a tour of Europe.  While there, this nameless friend and become close to Victor, son of a prominent family.  It was ball season in Paris, between New Year's and Lent, and Mathis' friend was invited to a fancy dress ball at the home of Victor's mother, Madam de Brissac.  Apparently masks were worn as well as costumes.  Details are given only of one: a lady in Spanish costume with whom Mathis' friend was quite taken:

There was one face and form that was especially attractive from amongst them all.  She was of a southern type of beauty, dark, tall and graceful.  She wore a Spanish costume of rich black good, cut low in front, and sleeveless, with diamond ornaments.  I approached her.  We strolled into the conservatory, we promenaded, we danced.  I was struck with her beauty and many charms; but, in the whirl of excitement, soon found myself at the side of another.  Throughout the evening, however, I kept my eyes upon this lady in black.  She was always prominent, always surrounded by admirers, always smiling, always pleasing those around her.  I was deeply interested, and that night I dreamt of sunny Spain.

Mathis' friend left out a few pertinent details here, presumably for storytelling effect. 

Halloween Cotillion Figures

I'd previously avoided posting any of the actual Halloween figures given in H. Layton Walker's Twentieth Century Cotillion Figures (Two Step Publishing Company, Buffalo, New York, 1912), simply because each one is so short that any one didn't seem like enough material to make a decent blog post.  But in combination, these four figures actually touch on different elements that might be useful for anyone planning an early twentieth century Halloween-themed event.

Taking the four figures in the order in which they appear in Walker:

Say boo!

What would a Halloween ball be without some weird early twentieth-century cotillion figures?  Here's a pair from St. Louis dancing master Jacob Mahler's 1900 compilation Original Cotillion Figures.  One is, I think, genuinely creepy.  The other isn't as scary, but requires a ridiculously complex prop.  Both would require substantial preparation and stage-managing and are best suited to small events.

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Camping.
Adolph Newberger, New York City, N. Y.

Eight couple dance to the merry strains of a two-step.  Each participant selects a new partner, and the sixteen couple arrange themselves around tent.  All now dance toward tents, constructed of thin paper and erected for the purpose in the four corners of the room, the gentlemen concealing themselves within, as the ladies dance once around the tents.  Four masculine hands are thrust through the paper walls; at a given signal each lady seizes one of the protruding hands, and proceeds to draw its owner through the tent, making him captive for the dance.

Perhaps I'm oversensitive to things suddenly bursting out of walls, but I have some trouble with this figure.  Sure, why doesn't everyone just two-step merrily around the room until the ball suddenly turns into a scene out of Repulsion...

A Fancy Dress Ball, Singapore, 1884

Originally posted in substantially similar form on February 11, 2011, at Historical Fancy Dress.

As can be seen from my other posts about fancy dress and masquerade balls, newspapers from the eighteenth century well into the twentieth often published lists of the costumes worn by the guests.  The lists were often provided in advance of the actual event, so it's possible not all of the costumes worked out, as anyone who's ever tried to finish a costume at the last minute before a ball will understand. 

The costumes were evidently more important than the dancing; while lists of outfits are routine in these writeups, full dance programs are rare and any information at all is not very common.  This apparently held true even halfway around the world.  The excerpts and costume lists below are from a fancy dress ball held by British expatriates in Singapore (!) in 1884.  The sole mention of dancing is the opening quadrille.

A Calico Ball, British Columbia, 1885

As described by Lucie Armstrong in The Ball-Room Guide (London and New York, c1880):

The Calico Ball is a fancy ball at which the dresses are made of calico.  Sateen, chintz and velveteen are allowable, and any other material which is made of cotton.  The invitation, of course, states the nature of the ball.

It really seems to have been primarily about the fabric rather than any costume theme, though obviously some costumes will work better when made out of cottons than others.  She goes on to make some suggestions.  For ladies: a dairymaid, a charity girl from St. Giles', or a Dresden shepherdess.  For gentlemen: a Maltese peasant, Albanian costume, Saxon dress, or an Italian peasant.

The anonymous author of Masquerades, tableaux and drills (New York, 1906) added more details:

Gloves are mitts are seldom used at calico balls, although they are permissible.  Regarding materials for calico-ball costumes -- there are, besides calico, many dainty fabrics, cotton crêpes and the like, which may be made up most artistically; however, there is most fun when all the costumes are made of the old-fashioned calico.  Ribbon, net, and tinsel trimmings are allowable.  Among the costumes most generally chosen for calico balls are peasant and shepherdess dresses, and those for fish girls, flower girls and charity girls; poudré and watteau costumes and those for Cinderella, Mother Hubbard, waiting-maids, Bo-Peep, Dolly Varden or almost any of those suggested and pictured throughout these pages.  The men at such balls wear simply made character costumes or dress suits made of "calico"; or sometimes ordinary dress suits faced with bright cambric or flowered fabrics.  

So how did they do in Victoria, British Columbia, on the evening of Wednesday, December 9th, 1885?  As reported by the Daily Colonist on the morning of the 10th, at the calico party held by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dunsmuir,

The Hewitts' Plant Party, 1898

Originally posted in substantially similar form on September 24, 2010, at Historical Fancy Dress.

Jumping forward in time, from The New York Times on February 18, 1898 comes a full description of a very successful themed fancy dress event: a "Plant Party".  The ladies were asked to dress in some "representative" costume, while the gentlemen were expected to appear in ordinary evening clothes and were given something like a vegetable boutonniere at the door.  Supposedly, this was copied from something that Louis XVI did it at Versailles.  I'd certainly like to see a description of that!

Sadly, very little information is given about the dancing: there was some, informal, after supper, and with no cotillion.

No full list of costumes was published, but there are some excellent examples at the end of how the ladies trimmed their gowns to match the theme.

I've transcribed the entire article below.

Mrs. Walker's Masqued Ball, 1804

Jumping from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century:

I first came across a description of Mrs. Walker's Masqued Ball as it was published in a Philadelphia journal, The Port-Folio, on January 19, 1805, with a credit to the The Morning Post, a noted London newspaper which famously covered the social activities of the upper classes in Regency England. 

For several years, I had the article filed under the date 1805, but with a suspicious note attached because the outdoor party described (with a hostess concerned about the possibility of the heat being "oppressive") didn't sound likely to have occurred in January, even in England.  I still haven't found the original Morning Post article, but I did turn up a shorter version of the same description (minus all the costume information) that was published in The Lancaster Gazette (of Lancaster, England, not Lancaster, Pennsylvania) on Saturday, July 14, 1804, with one critical word present:

on Wednesday se'nnight         [emphasis mine]

In the longer piece in The Port-Folio, this line was altered to "on Wednesday evening", presumably because it was being reprinted seven months later.  I believe that "se'nnight" would make the date of the ball Wednesday, July 4th, 1804, a much more sensible date for an outdoor event.

British newspapers covered many masqued balls, but most of the descriptions weren't quite as detailed as this one.  I've included a transcription of the entire article (Port-Folio version) below.  I'll just pick out a few of the points that really caught my eye.

The Duke of Bolton's Masquerade, 1769

On Thursday, June 1st, 1769, Admiral Harry Powlett (sometimes Paulet), the sixth Duke of Bolton, held a masquerade, or masked ball, at his Hampshire estate, Hackwood Park. 

The sixth duke, shown at left in a portrait by Frances Cotes (courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; original here), had had an exciting few years.  Widowed in 1764, he remarried early in 1765 and that summer succeeded to the ducal title after the suicide of his brother, the fifth duke.  He had two or three daughters by 1769, one from his first wife who was probably in her teens by then, and at least one toddler by his second wife.  The third daughter's date of birth is unknown, but as she was by the second wife, it was sometime after 1765, so there may have been another young girl in the family in 1769.  More biographical information and details about his naval career may be found at Wikipedia.

The ducal title went extinct after the sixth duke died with no male children -- the Lord Bolton referred to by Jane Austen in 1799 ("One of my gayest actions was sitting down two dances in preference to having Lord Bolton's eldest son for my partner, who danced too ill to be endured.") was the husband of the sixth duke's heiress, an illegitimate niece.  He was created Baron Bolton upon marriage.  The ill-dancing eldest son was William, later the second Baron Bolton.

Though it is no longer owned by Bolton descendants, Hackwood Park has survived and continues to this day to be one of England's most famous estates.  Its history goes back to the thirteenth century, with the current house having been built in the late seventeenth century and undergone significant changes to the facade in the early nineteenth.  It is particularly famous for its "garden wood", which was to have been used for the Masquerade, though the plan didn't work out due to weather.  The park was painted by Paul Sandby in the early 1760s.  More information about the estate and its history may be found here and here.  For those with money to burn, Hackwood Park has been on sale since 2016 (asking price then, around £65 million) and is currently listed by Christie's, with many gorgeous pictures, here.

The description of the Duke's masquerade was published on pages 296-297 of The Court Miscellany for June, 1769, a copy of which is held by the Watkinson Library at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.  All quotes below are from this article.  

October 2018 Gig Calendar

Back in Moscow for the school year!  I'll be doing four courses this autumn on cross-step waltz and historical dance plus a small waltz party at the end of the month.  No travel before November as I settle in!

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Tuesdays, October 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd ~ Moscow, Russia
Cross-Step Waltz for Beginners (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-8:30pm
Introduction to all basic figures of cross-step waltz.  Pay by the week or for a full month including the waltz party on the 30th.

Tuesdays, October 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd ~ Moscow, Russia
Intermediate Cross-Step Waltz (VK post - in Russian)
8:30-10:00pm
More complex figures and techniques for cross-step waltz.  Pay by the week or for a full month including the waltz party on the 30th.

Thursdays, October 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th ~ Moscow, Russia
Belle Epoque (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-8:30pm
Continuing my autumn course of dances of late 19th century France.  Pay by the week or by the month.

Thursdays, October 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th ~ Moscow, Russia
Unusual 1910s Dances (VK post - in Russian)
8:30-10:00pm
First in my autumn course on the more unusual dances of the 1910s, including improvisation in the maxixe and hesitation waltz, the social dances of Anna Pavlova, and perhaps a few small surprises!  Pay by the week or by the month.

Tuesday, October 30th ~ Moscow, Russia
Halloween Waltz Party (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-10:00pm.  Waltz, waltz, and more waltz.  Light refreshments.  Costumes encouraged!

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I am available for private lessons in Moscow, or while on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

Moscow, Russia: October 1-31

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Coming in November: a waltz weekend in Kyiv, Ukraine, and a quick trip to the USA for two Remembrance Day balls in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania!

Rothard's One-Step

This one-step sequence appears in the second edition of F. Leslie Clendenen's 1914 compilation, Dance Mad.  It is titled simply "One Step" with the attribution "by E. Clarence Rothard".  Rothard is listed in the thank-you credits in the back of the second edition, but his location is not given and a cursory search has not turned up any specific information about him.  An "Edna Rothard Passapae" was teaching dance in Newark, New Jersey, by at least 1918 and might have been the daughter of E. Clarence, since it was not unusual for daughters to follow their parents as dance teachers.  But even if she was, that doesn't necessarily mean that E. Clarence Rothard was also based in New Jersey.

Rothard's one-step is quite a lengthy sequence.  There are eight separate sections of the dance, some of which are repeated.  The overall pattern of the dance segments is ABCCDEFGHDH, each letter representing four bars of 2/4 music (eight beats) for a 44-bar (88-beat) dance.

The specified tune is "Hungarian Rag" (left; click to enlarge), a popular 1913 composition by German-American composer Julius Lenzberg adapted from Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies.  The piece is still well-known; period recordings of it may be found here and here, and a modern version here.  The sheet music is available online at the Charles Templeton Sheet Music Collection of Mississippi State University.

The sheet music is notated as 16b (repeated), 16b (repeated), 20b, 16b, and 16b.  How exactly this is supposed match up with a 44b dance is an interesting question, but since the dance is broken into four-bar units, one can make it fit by adding another repeat of one of the 16b strains for a total of 132 bars, which allows for three times through the dance.

September 2018 Gig Calendar

September includes my last few weeks in the USA before my biannual transatlantic migration; the last week will be spent settling into my Moscow life once more.  I'll be taking some vacation early in the month (real vacation this time - no dance gigs sneaking in!) and then have some research time and a pair of DJ gigs in Boston before heading home to pack!

Once in Moscow, I'll pick up my autumn schedule quickly with a waltz party to launch my cross-step classes and a pair of historical classes covering the 1880s-1890s and 1910s with a special emphasis on dance connections to Russia in both France and America.

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Tuesday, September 9th ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Second Sun Rising (Facebook event)
7:00-11:00pm (one-hour lesson then dancing).  DJing fusion for the second half, 9:30-11:00pm.  

Tuesday, September 11th ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy (Facebook event)
7:30-11:00pm (lesson then dancing).  DJing blues for the second set, 9:45-11:00pm.  This will be my last public event in the USA before departing for Russia!

Tuesday, September 25th ~ Moscow, Russia
Return to Moscow Waltz Party (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-10:00pm.  Waltz, waltz, and more waltz.  Light refreshments.  Details TBA.

Thursday, September 27th ~ Moscow, Russia
Belle Epoque (VK post - in Russian)
7:00-8:30pm
First in my autumn course of dances of late 19th century France.  Details TBA.  Pay for the season as a whole (12 classes and one party) or for the individual class.

Thursday, September 27th ~ Moscow, Russia
Unusual 1910s Dances (VK post - in Russian)
8:30-10:00pm
First in my autumn course on the more unusual dances of the 1910s, including improvisation in the maxixe and hesitation waltz, the social dances of Anna Pavlova, and perhaps a few small surprises!  Pay for the season as a whole (12 classes and one party) or for the individual class.

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I am available for private lessons when in residence in either Connecticut or Moscow, or while on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

New Haven and Middletown, Connecticut: September 4-5, 13-21
Boston area: September 10-12
Moscow, Russia: September 23-30

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Exeter Waltz

Last year I wrote up Massachusetts dancing master George F. Walters' Exeter Caprice, one of two Walters dances that appeared in the second edition of F. Leslie Clendenen's 1914 compilation, Dance Mad.  The other was the Exeter Waltz, a hesitation waltz sequence which, at sixteen bars, is long enough to function as a standalone sequence dance or, if the surrounding dancers are accustomed to accommodating hesitations, used as a puzzle-piece for improvisation.  There is no choreographic connection between the Exeter Waltz and the Exeter Caprice.

There were some difficulties in reconstructing the Exeter Waltz (see the Reconstruction Notes below); the following version is what I came up with after some experimentation with different possibilities.

Starting position: normal ballroom hold, gentleman's back to line of dance and lady facing line of dance.  Gentleman starts left foot, lady right.  The instructions below are given for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite.

The dance consists of sixteen measures of waltz music divided into two eight-bar sections.  Turns to the right are clockwise or natural; turns to the left are counter-clockwise or reverse.

In Praise of the Simple

Wandering around the net, as one does, I came across a lovely video of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark participating in a traditional dance of the Faroe Islands, the kædedans, a circle dance (for a loose definition of "circle") that just so happens to have the same pattern as Branle Simple, one of the "opening branles" published by Thoinot Arbeau (Jehan Tabourot) in 1589 and described briefly by me nearly a decade ago, when I was doing more with Renaissance dance.  Double left, single right.  Repeat ad infinitum.  Frederik and Mary both had a little trouble catching the pattern, in exactly the same way that I've seen people have trouble with Branle Simple nowadays (no, really, go left twice then right, but only once to the right, no, it's not symmetrical...).  That's kind of charming; don't they prep royalty before these events?

Here's the video:

(Video courtesy of BILLED-BLADET Magazine) 

South Indian "Harem Tango"

And here it is: the last of the tiny Dance Mad tangos!  

The South Indian "Harem" Tango, like the others in this series of posts, is an American tango which appeared in both the first and second editions of Dance Mad (St. Louis; both editions compiled by F. Leslie Clendenen and published in 1914).  It is a very short sequence, only six measures (twelve steps or beats), and rather silly.  Clendenen attributes it to W. T. Kaserman, a dancing master who does not appear on Clendenen's lists of contributors in either edition.  Perhaps he was embarrassed?

I should state outright that there is nothing even slightly South Indian or harem-like about this sequence; it's utterly ordinary.  The name is pure exoticism.

While I haven't looked into Kaserman in depth, I believe he was from the Cleveland area.  He seems to have taught with his wife, since both of them appear (circled in red) in the picture at left of the "New Officers of International Asociation [sic] of Masters of Dancing for Season of 1906-1907 Just Chosen in Fort Wayne." taken from the June 13, 1906, edition of the Fort Wayne [Indiana] Weekly Sentinel.  Also in the picture: Montréal dancing master Frank H. Norman, at top right, whose Rocker Hesitation and Rag-Time Crawl I have previously discussed.  Click to enlarge the photo.

Zebley's Tango

Moving right along with my tiny tango post series, here's another sequence from F. Leslie Clendenen's two editions of Dance Mad (St. Louis, 1914).  This one is simply called "Tango" and was provided by T. Victor Zebley, a Washington, D.C., dancing master.  It isn't really a "tiny" tango; it's a full thirty-two measures, which is enough for a full-fledged sequence dance.

Zebley's tango is very straightforward to reconstruct and, provided one remembers the full sequence, easy to dance, with three points where the dancers can make some minor choices of their own.  I give my preferences, but also describe the other options in the performance notes below.

"Mixed Pickles" Tango

Continuing with my lengthening series of tiny tango sequences from the first and second editions of F. Leslie Clendenen's compilation Dance Mad (St. Louis; both editions 1914), here's another short (sixteen-bar) tango sequence.  If not performed by all the dancers on the floor in unison, it must be done with care, since the dancers move directly against line of dance at two separate points.

For such a short sequence, there are quite a few niggling little problems with the instructions and reconstruction, which I'll talk about a bit below.

The starting position for the dance is a regular ballroom hold with both dancers turned to face forward along line of dance, moving more-or-less side by side to start.  The gentleman starts on the left foot, the lady on the right.  Steps below are given for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite.  

"Mixed Pickles" Tango (sixteen measures/thirty-two beats)
1234    Four walking steps along line of dance, LRLR
5678    Cross left foot over right and do four walking steps against line of dance (over elbows), LRLR

12        Facing partner, point left foot along line of dance
3          Close left foot to right, rising on toes
4          Sink onto heels
5678    Grapevine along line of dance, LRLR (see performance notes below)

1234    "Scissors": Cross left foot over right, step side right, cross left over right, and point right (movement and point are against line of dance)
5678    "Scissors": Cross right foot over left, step side left, cross right over left, and point left (movement and point are along line of dance)

1234    Draw steps: slide left along line of dance, close right to left, repeat
5678    Spin turn clockwise, rocking left back/twice

Birth of the Doves

The second and final post in my August cotillion mini-series, in which things get weird!  The Birth of the Doves -- does that title not just fill one with fear? -- is taken from St. Louis dancing master Jacob Mahler's 1900 compilation Original Cotillion Figures. It was attributed to W. L. Curtis of Utica, New York.  This is one of those cotillion figures that either awes or horrifies you with the amount of effort people went to to throw impressive parties in the late nineteenth century.

Interestingly, this cotillion has a specific piece of music: "The Dove's Return", by Fred T. Baker, which dates from around 1893, when it was published as #8725 in the long-running Musical Bouquet series of sheet music.  A detail from the cover is at left; click to enlarge.

Given the music, the dance for this cotillion is obviously the waltz.  The instructions note that this figure should be the last of the evening, and that the "spectacular effect" is beautiful. 

It's certainly a spectacle.

Court Cotillion

Among the myriad ways of matching up couples in a mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century cotillion (meaning the dance party game, not the eighteenth-century square dance), using a deck of cards was an obvious choice.  Here, for example, is "The Cards", from the lengthy list of figures provided by New York City dancing master Allen Dodworth in his 1885 manual, Dancing and its relations to education and social life (the link is to the 1900 edition):

No. 180.
The Cards.

The conductor presents the four queens from a pack of cards to four ladies, and the four kings to four gentlemen; each gentleman then searches for the lady who holds the queen corresponding to his king; after dancing, each lady presents her queen to another lady, and the gentlemen present the kings to other gentlemen.  The process is repeated until all have participated.

This is simple and obvious, and it doesn't require a blog post to explain how to make it work if one understands the general concept of cotillions.

An interesting variation on the cards theme appears in H. Layton Walker's Twentieth Century Cotillion Figures (Buffalo, New York, 1912).  This figure is actually a version of the Ninepins, a quadrille with an extra gentleman (or sometimes a lady) in the center who tries to steal a partner from one of the surrounding couples during the dance figures.  The Walker figure is called "Court Cotillion" and turns Ninepins into an ongoing game in which each bereft gentlemen goes to select another lady and gentleman to start off the next quadrille-plus-one.  It is to be done to waltz music. 

August 2018 Gig Calendar

Emerging from my summer hibernation -- how did I get my hibernation season so out of whack? -- I'll be on the road this month for blues in Boston (sadly, this trip has been canceled) and a somewhat random bunch of workshops in San Jose, California, where a non-dance-related trip has turned into something of a busman's holiday!  

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Thursday-Saturday, August 16-18 ~ San Jose, California
Dance workshops at the 76th Annual World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon76) (Facebook)
I will be conducting workshops on Victorian couple dancing (with a Steampunk focus), historical dances done in trios, and cross-step waltz (beginner level); leading a morning "dancercize" session; DJing a waltz session; and doing a mini-class on hand jive.  I'll also be partnering for a basic swing dance workshop.  My full schedule is here.  Note: these workshops are restricted to day or weekend members of the convention.  Please see the Worldcon76 website for information about membership.

Tuesday, August 28th ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy 
7:30-11:00pm (lesson then dancing).  DJing blues for the second set, 9:45-11:00pm.

Thursday, August 30th ~ Somerville, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Blues Union
7:30-11:00pm (lessons until 9:30 then dancing).  I'll be DJing blues from 9:30-10:30.

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I am available for private lessons in Connecticut or on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

New Haven and Middletown, Connecticut: August 1-14, 22-31
San Jose, California: August 16-20
Boston area: August 28-30

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Authenticity and Aesthetics: not the same thing

I shouldn't have to say this, but apparently I do:

Authenticity and aesthetics are separate qualities.  A high level of one does not imply a high level of the other.  Lack of one does not imply lack of the other.  They are almost completely independent variables.

Balls at Portsmouth, 1865

Late in the summer of 1865, the French and British navies exchanged formal visits, with a British fleet visit to Cherbourg followed by a reciprocal French visit to Portsmouth.  In the latter town, two balls were held, both documented in engravings and written coverage by, among others, the Illustrated London News.  The image at left (click to enlarge) illustrates the ball held on Thursday, August 31st, 1865, in a "grand pavilion erected for the entertainments on Governor’s Green."  ("Illustrations of the Naval Festival at Portsmouth." Illustrated London News (London, England), Issue 1333, Saturday, September 9, 1865).  More detailed coverage a week later explained that the ball was held in

one of Edgington’s tents, 138 ft. long and 36 ft. wide, floored over, and lined with crimson and white cloth, also decorated with flags and coloured lamps.  At the upper end, behind the Mayor’s chair, was a bust of the Emperor Napoleon, above a shield bearing the arms of the town of Portsmouth, with the Mayor’s chain and badge.  On his right hand were the Royal arms of Great Britain, supported by the standards of France, with the Imperial and British crowns.  On his left hand were the arms of France, supported by the Royal standards of England and of the Prince of Wales.  At the opposite end of the room were an exquisitely-designed waterfall, fountain, and cascade, intermixed with choice ferns and evergreens — the rockwork before formed of blocks of coal, gilt...The company numbered about 2000 ladies and gentlemen, and the great majority of the latter wore naval or military uniforms, while the ladies, of course, were very richly and gaily dressed.  They presented, while dancing, a splendid as well as a lively and animated sight.
    -- "Illustrations of the Anglo-French Naval Festival at Portsmouth."  Illustrated London News (London, England), Issue 1334, Saturday, September 16, 1865.

CD Review: North & South

I received the CD North & South: Forgotten Music from the American Civil War (Gaslantern Records, 2013) and its accompanying sheet music as a birthday gift this year, and a very lovely gift it was!  Sixteen new pieces of historical music, beautifully played by the Orchestra of the Gilded Age, conducted by Jeffrey Hunter, many of them suitable for dancing!  

The actual disc features a gorgeous historical battle scene, but there are no real liner notes included.  Happily, almost all the information one could want appears on the album website: not merely dates and lengths, but composers, background notes, and even the musical key of each piece. 

This is a "listening" CD, not made specifically for dancers, but many of the pieces will work for dancing.  As usual, I've gone through the album track by track and made notes about which pieces are danceable and for what.  

Of special note: the album is divided into two themes, "North" and "South", with the pieces for each named in honor of particular Union or Confederate leaders or otherwise connected to one side.  If one's dancers or listeners are apt to find such celebratory naming problematic, be careful which half you select from!

"Tango No. 1"

Continuing on with the tiny traveling tango sequences from 1914, here's one that's a bit less tiny than the Two-Step Tango.  "Tango No. 1" is listed in both editions of Dance Mad (St. Louis, 1914) with the note "As taught in our classes.", which presumably meant the classes of F. Leslie Clendenen's own academy.  That means that this is as much a class practice sequence as a social dance.  As I reconstruct it -- and see the reconstruction notes below -- it is a reasonable sixteen bars (thirty-two beats) in length, and suitably easy for a class, as it only involves four basic moves - walking, a spin turn, draw steps, and grapevine.

The starting position is a closed ballroom hold with the gentleman's back to line of dance and the lady facing line of dance.  The gentleman starts on the left foot, the lady on the right.  Steps are given for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite.

Tango No. 1 (16 bars/32 beats of tango music)
1234    Walk backward four steps
(half-turn counter-clockwise)
5678    Walk forward four steps 

1234    Fast clockwise spin turn, ending with gentleman facing wall
5678    Draw steps: side-close-side-close

1234    Grapevine: side-cross behind-side-cross in front (lady does opposite cross, not mirror!)
5678    Repeat grapevine

1234    Repeat draw steps
5678    Repeat clockwise fast spin turn, ending with gentleman's back to line of dance

The overall mnemonic: back, forward, spin, draw; grapevine, grapevine, draw, spin.  It would be nice if it were perfectly regular, with each half ending with either spin-draw or draw-spin.  But, alas, it is not, so the dancers must pay attention!

Two-Step Tango

The Two-Step Tango is an anonymous eight-bar sequence published in the first and second editions of F. Leslie Clendenen's compilation Dance Mad (St. Louis; both editions 1914).  There are several of these tiny "tango" sequences that travel decorously around the room without much tango feel to them -- see the similar Butterfly Tango and Dixie Swirl.  These short progressive sequences all appeared in the first edition, along with the somewhat better-composed and more tango-like ones (including a "Tango Two-Step") from Albert Newman.  The impression I get from this is that the more authentic tango was still making its way across the country in early 1914, so the authors of these sequences were still interpreting it as "slow one-step to tango music".  The second edition of Dance Mad expanded the tango section enormously, retaining the short sequences but adding twenty-two pages of more authentic Argentinian and Parisian tango steps.

The Two-Step Tango is basically a promenade, performed with both partners facing line of dance, side by side, holding inside hands.  The gentleman begins on the left foot, the lady on the right.  The gentleman's steps are given below; the lady dances opposite.

Two-Step Tango (eight bars/sixteen beats of tango music)
1        Forward left
2        Forward right, turning slightly outward
3        Back left, making a slight dip (against line of dance, back to back with partner)
4        Side right (along line of dance, still back to back with partner)
5        Side left (along line of dance, swinging to face partner)
6        Back right, making a slight dip (against line of dance) 
7        Side left (along line of dance, facing partner again)
8        Forward right

1, 2    Forward left, slowly
3        Close right to left
4        Forward left
5, 6    Forward right, slowly
7        Close left to right
8        Forward right

July 2018 Gig Calendar

July is going to be another quiet month for me, holed up at home doing a bunch of unrelated work, writing, research, etc.  I'll make a brief research trip to Boston and do some DJing on the side, and I may be out and about later in the month.

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Tuesday, July 10th ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy (Facebook event)
7:30-11:00pm (lesson then dancing).  DJing blues for the second set, 9:45-11:00pm.

Thursday, June 12th ~ Somerville, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Blues Union (Facebook event)
7:30-11:00pm (lessons until 9:30 then dancing).  I'll be DJing blues from 9:30-10:30.

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I am available for private lessons in Connecticut or on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

New Haven and Middletown, Connecticut: July 1-9, 13-26, 30-31
Boston area: July 10-12

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Giraudet's Pas de Trois

Like La Galopade, this Pas de Trois is a simple sequence dance created by French dancing master and author Eugène Giraudet.  Giraudet was a composer as well; he credits himself for both the dance and the music and on the sheet music calls himself "Auteur, compositeur, et professeur de danse." 

The Pas de Trois is particularly useful, as Giraudet notes, when there is an imbalance of ladies and gentlemen at a ball, since it is danced by sets of three.  Giraudet is not the only one to have thought of this; there are other Pas de Trois choreographies in late nineteenth-century French sources (including Giraudet's own books).  But this is the one Giraudet claims as his own.

Instructions for Giraudet's Pas de Trois appear with the original sheet music as well as in the 55th edition of Giraudet's dance manual, La danse, la tenue, le maintien, l'hygiène & l'éducation (c1900), and his 1913 Méthode moderne pour bien apprendre la danse.  A somewhat different version appears in B. G. Bottallo's Guide du bon danseur (Paris, 1912).  The dance can be dated quite precisely, since the sheet music is specific: September 20, 1894.  Interestingly, in La danse, Giraudet credits the music to "Hamel", which caused me a long delay in writing up this dance while I argued with the Bibliothèque nationale de France over whether the composer had been dead long enough for copyright to expire and for them to provide me with a copy of the sheet music.

Dance Card: Henrietta Club, 1890

I purchased this beautiful dance card while living in Russia and thus didn't get to see its full splendor until I arrived home.  It doesn't add a whole lot to my overall knowledge of late-nineteenth-century American dance, but every little tidbit helps, and the outside art is just gorgeous -- click the image at left to enlarge it for a closer look!

The card is from a ball held at a Pickwick Hall on Thursday, December 11th, 1890, by the Henrietta Club.  No city or state is given, and the USA appears to have been full of Henrietta Clubs in the late nineteenth century, but from the internal evidence, I am fairly certain it is from St. Louis:

First, the music was provided by Steinkuehlers [sic] Orchestra.  In the St. Louis publication Kunkel's Music Review, Volume 15, No. 1, 1892, William Steinkuehler advertises himself as a violin teacher and the leader of Steinkuehler's Orchestra.  His "card" may be seen about halfway down the left-hand column on page 11 of the January, 1892, issue, here. 

Second, there was a Henrietta Club actively holding balls at a Pickwick Hall in St. Louis in the early 1890s, as chronicled by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:  "The Henrietta Club will give an elegant hop at Pickwick Hall in October..." (Thursday, September 24, 1891, p. 3), "The Henrietta Club have a handsome Invitation out for one of their elegant dancing parties to be given at the Pickwick Thursday evening, Nov. 19..." (Sunday, November 1, 1891, p. 10), etc.

June 2018 Gig Calendar

I'm thrilled to start out June with another trip to Kyiv before heading back to the USA at last! 

I am not planning any further public classes in June, just research, writing, and non-dance projects.  And maybe a little vacation!

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Saturday-Sunday, June 2-3 ~ Kyiv, Ukraine
Cross-Step Waltz Weekend (Facebook event - Ukrainian)
Four waltz classes each day, evening party Saturday (I will be DJing), and afterparty Sunday (details in Ukrainian here).

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I am available for private lessons in Connecticut or on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

New Haven and Middletown, Connecticut: June 6-13, 16-30
Boston area: June 14-15

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Dance Program: Elmer Fife's Grand Ball, 1886

I don't actually own this dance card; it escaped me on ebay some time ago.  But I managed to grab the helpfully-posted images before they vanished.  It is not a very prepossessing card; it appears to be a simple folded piece of cardstock with black and white printing inside and out.  The inside of the card is at left.  The outside, below, features a simple but attractive front cover design of geometric shapes surrounding a bird in a lightly-sketched landscape.

What makes this card interesting to me is that it is not really a dance card for use at an actual ball.  Notice how there are no spaces to fill in partners' names?  Enlarge the inside of the card and in the fine print you'll see "We respectfully solicit your company for the above occasion", said occasion being a "Grand Ball!" to be given by Elmer Fife at Moore's Hall on Wednesday, January 27th, 1886.  The card is actually an invitation, or possibly an advertisement, depending on how it was distributed.  The final line on the left, "None but respected parties will be admitted to the ball" hints to me that it was not a very exclusive list.  And I am amused by the larger-font assurance that there will be "GOOD MUSIC".  Overall, this card reminds me most of the 1917 Ocean View Amusement Park card I posted several years ago.

Humming Bird Dance

"Humming Bird Dance" is a hesitation waltz sequence which appeared in the first and second editions of F. Leslie Clendenen's compilation Dance Mad (St. Louis; both editions 1914).  It is attributed to "Mr. Menancon", who appears in the list of credits at the end of the second edition as "Elmond Menancon, 909 Elm Street, Manchester, N[ew] H[ampshire]".  I believe the first name ought to be "Edmond", since a dancing master of that name is listed in Manchester city directories from 1906 and 1918.  In the 1906 Manchester Directory, Edmond Menancon is listed separately as an artist, dancing master, and, interestingly, the sexton of a church.  Here's Menancon's advertisement from page 819 of the 1906 directory:

The sexton position seems a somewhat odd fit for an artist-photographer-dance teacher; the triple career doesn't seem to leave much time for a day job.  Perhaps it was his father?

In the 1918 residential directory, as transcribed here, he is listed as an "artist/teacher [of] dancing" having "rms" (presumably "rooms") at 318 Pearl. 

The Humming Bird Dance itself is a sixteen-bar sequence done in "one-step waltz" style, one step (sometimes with embellishments) per bar of waltz music.  The instructions in Dance Mad list it as for "Any waltz music."  Whichever piece is used, it will need to be at a fast hesitation waltz tempo, or the dance will drag.

To start, both dancers face line of dance, the gentleman behind and to the left of the lady.  The lady's right arm makes a semi-circle so that her right hand is over her head, palm up.  The gentleman takes the tips of her fingers with his own right hand.  Left hands are joined and extended in front.  This is referred to as "a la minuet", which would no doubt have startled  dancers of the original minuet in the eighteenth century.  Both dancers begin with the left foot.  

The basic step is onto the toes with a slight dip.  There is also a repeated three-beat sequence of stepping with a stronger dip (1), striking the free foot on the floor as it swings forward (2), and hopping while extending the free foot into fourth position forward (3).  The latter will be listed below as a "step-strike-hop" for brevity.

Aurora Waltz / Hungarian Waltz - Contra Dance

It's been quite some time since I've added a nineteenth-century American contra dance to Kickery.  Here's a waltz contra from the ever-useful Elias Howe that, with only a few bars of turning waltz, is an easy dance for beginners.  The set of figures appears in near-identical form in at least four of Howe's numerous dance manuals: the Complete ball-room handbook (1858), The pocket ball-room prompter (1858), and the American dancing master, and ball-room prompter (1862 and 1866). 

The original text:

First couple balance, cross over and go down outside below two couples — first couple balance again and waltz up to place — down the centre, back and cast off — swing six

In the two 1858 manuals, the figures appear under the name "Aurora Waltz", and in the 1862 and 1866 books, they appear under "Hungarian Waltz".  I think that as with earlier country dances, the names actually belong to tunes, rather than the dance figures, and I have no special preference as to which tune and name should be used.  Very similar figures (minus the waltz up the center and with a right and left instead of the swing six) appear at least as far back as the 1850s as non-waltz contra dance figures (under several different names) in Howe's and other manuals.  It looks to me like Howe just made minor tweaks to a common set of figures to take advantage of the waltz music.

May 2018 Gig Calendar

A light month for me, with the first half of it taken out by Russian holidays and some private travel.  I'll only have a short cross-step course and a final party before I head back to the USA for the summer!

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Tuesdays, May 15, 22 ~ Moscow, Russia
Cross-Step Waltz Mini-Course
19:00-21:00.  Intermediate cross-step waltz; previous experience required.  Mini-course registration packaged with the party on May 29th!

Tuesday, May 29 ~ Moscow, Russia
Waltz Evening/Farewell Party (VKontakte event - Russian)
19:00-22:00.  The end of my teaching year in Moscow!  Come celebrate with an evening of waltz (cross-step and otherwise!)  Included with May mini-course.

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I am available for private lessons in Moscow, or on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

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The Morrisons, 1863

I came across Margaret Hosmer's novel, The Morrisons: a story of domestic life (1863), in my endless quest for dance references in nineteenth-century fiction.  Almost four hundred pages later, I have a few new citations, the highlight of which is a mention of two women waltzing together, and a growing distaste for storylines that treat dying of consumption (tuberculosis) as a character-building experience.

According to Deidre Johnson's useful website 19th-Century Girls' Series, which catalogues said series and their authors, only basic biographical facts about Hosmer's life are known: she was born Margaret Kerr in 1830, raised in Philadelphia, married Granville Hosmer and had at least one child, bounced back and forth between Philadelphia and California several times, worked in schools, published novels and short fiction for both children and adults, and died in 1897.  The website's full biographical listing for her, from which these details are taken, may be found here.  I am not enough of a fan of her writing to have done any further research on her life.

The Morrisons was Hosmer's first novel.  It is generally listed as having been published in 1863 while she was living in Philadelphia.  I didn't look hard for an 1863 edition; the one I read was from 1864.  An 1868 edition is available online as well.  The setting is vague, both in place and time.  The city where the Morrisons live is somewhere between New York and the South.  Given the author's roots, I suppose it to be Philadelphia; the neighborhood names (West Park, Oak Hill) would make sense for that city.  There is no mention of the Civil War.  Characters visit "the South" without incident and temporarily-hired black servants make brief appearances.  The dresses are not described in detail, other than being bulky enough to make loading the women into carriages a chore.  My best guess is that it is meant to take place in the late 1850s.

The Morrisons are an Irish-American family, a widowed mother with two daughters, a son, and an elderly uncle, all living on the charity of the mother's relatively wealthy niece, Bess Saunders, whom all expect to marry the son and thus solidify their position.  It's a twisted sort of Cinderella story, since the Morrisons themselves are, for the most part, lazy spendthrifts, while the saintly Bess not only supports them (to the point of mortgaging her house and selling her jewelry) but also does all the housework as well.  It's clear from the novel that the Morrisons are not the best of society, but Bess, heiress of her successful father, is wealthy enough that they have servants and need not work for a living.  The uncle has been in business and traveled extensively, but lost most of his money and now lives modestly with his family. 

I suspect that the family being explicitly Irish would have signaled much more strongly to the nineteenth-century reader than it does to me, but the idea that most of the Morrisons are stereotypically charming and somewhat disreputable wastrels comes through pretty clearly.