Capering & Kickery

How Do You Cast Off?

Trick question, right?  Everyone who does any form of country dancing knows how to cast off.  But if it were that simple, I wouldn't be writing about it.  Not only did country dances as a whole evolve over time, individual figures also underwent some changes.

The Castle Polka

In the October of 1914, in a fit of nostalgia, Vernon Castle promoted in the pages of The Ladies Home Journal the revival of one of the most popular dances of the previous century, the polka.  He noted that the polka involves a hop rather than sliding steps usual in the dances of the 1910s, but feels that "it should be revived and modernized - not to take the place of the other dances so popular now, but to add variety to all dance programs" as well as "because it is so easy to learn and so enjoyable to dance."  A polka likewise enlivens and varies the program on a modern ball in the style of the 1910s, and the "Castle Polka" gives the dance more of a ragtime feel than the polka of the Victorian era.

The illustration at left, courtesy of the New York Public Library's digital image gallery, shows Vernon and his wife Irene in a polka pose.  Vernon noted that they had "a leaning towards things old-fashioned" which extended to Irene's costume.  Click the image to go to the NYPL site and enlarge it, and you will see that she is actually wearing ankle-length drawers under her skirt, in a fanciful imitation of Victorian fashion.  The Castles were essentially acting as dance reconstructors and came up with their own interpretation of how to dance the polka.  A transcription of the entire original article with the original illustrative photos by Ira L. Hill is online at the Vintage Victorian website.  My reconstruction of the Castle Polka follows.

Regency & Renaissance Dance Workshops, NYC (May 4, 2008)

I will be teaching two dance workshops for The Elegant Arts Society in New York City this Sunday, May 4th.  Logistical details are here.

The first (1:00-3:45pm) will focus on the dances of the Regency era (1810-1820), including steps and figures for country dances and the Royal Scotch and Caledonian Quadrilles, plus the Regency-era waltz.  The Royal Scotch Quadrilles feature the "star" figure described in an earlier article here.

The second class (4:00-6:00pm) will cover what I semi-jokingly call the contra medley of the 16th century, Caroso's 1581 version of Chiaranzana.  The dance mixes longways duple minor progressive figures with whole set figures, all using simple step sequences from the late 16th century repertoire.

Quick-Quick-Slow: The Two-Step Infiltrates the Foxtrot

In my previous foxtrot post I covered the basic walking and trotting patterns of the early foxtrot of the 1910s.  These patterns are characterized by alternating series of slow (S) or quick (Q) steps, simple traveling interspersed with occasional sideways glides or half-turns, and consistently starting on the same foot (gentleman's left, lady's right).  This simple foxtrot was complicated almost immediately by variations of rhythm, most notably the "quick-quick-slow" (QQS, or "one-and-two (pause)") rhythm of the 19th-century two-step and polka.  This post will discuss some of the variations introduced in the pre-1920 foxtrot as described by dancing masters Maurice Mouvet (1915) and Charles Coll (1919) and demonstrated by Clay Bassett and Catherine Elliott on film (1916).

Three Chairs: A Genre of Civil War Era Dance Games

• Era: America, 1840s into early 20th century

My friend Patricia asks in email:

Do you know of any documentation for a dance that is known to many as the "hat", "flower", "broom", "paddle", or "fan" dance?

It is described as having two lines of people (usually men in one line and ladies in the other). At the top of the set, one person holds one of the above items and two people of the opposite sex come and stand on either side of the person. He/she looks back & forth between them, hands the item to one of them and sashays or dances down the between the lines with the other person. Sometimes it's done with three chairs, sometimes with no chairs.

I know several dances with most of those names (all but paddle), none of them what Patricia had in mind.  The dance she's describing is a variation on several of the mid-19th century cotillion figures also known as "Germans".  These were not cotillions in the 18th-century sense of a chorus/verse-structured dance for couples in a square.  Instead they were party games with dancing, some of which were quite silly and seem to us today more like children's games than pastimes for a formal ballroom.  By the end of the 19th century, the role of these games had evolved from an amusing way to end a ball into the entire point of the evening, and hostesses vied to run the best "Favor-Germans", with elaborate trinkets as game props and party favors for their guests.

Royal Scotch Quadrilles, Boston area (April 25, 2008)

I will be teaching/calling a session of the Royal Scotch Quadrilles at the New England Folk Festival in Mansfield, Massachusetts (near Boston) this Friday, April 25th, from 9:00 to 9:50 p.m.  The fifth figure of these quadrilles incorporates the "star" figure described in an earlier post here.  This is a rare chance to learn and dance these quadrilles outside of a Regency class or event!  Live music will be provided by Scottish country dance musician Cal Howard and friends.   I would love to see any readers of this blog who might attend - please make yourself known after the session.

Other historical dance events at NEFFA include the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers teaching a session on Civil War era dances as well as performing and Michael Bergman (of CVD) leading a ragtime (1910s) dance, all on Saturday afternoon and evening of the festival. 

I will also be teaching a workshop in (non-historical but fun) cross-step waltz on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. accompanied by the musicians of Calliope and assisted by Toronto dancer Jennie Worden, and there will be ample social dancing of all kinds (contra, English & Scottish country dance, swing, waltz, Balkan, Scandinavian, etc.), all with excellent live music, throughout the entire weekend, as well as instrumental and vocal music, a crafts fair, demonstrations, etc.

Basic Walking & Trotting Patterns in the 1910s Foxtrot

"What particular resemblance does the gait of a fox have to this dance?"
      -- spectator watching trotters, as quoted in Maurice's Art of Dancing, 1915

It's a reasonable question.  The foxtrot evolved so rapidly after its debut in 1913-1914 that it can be difficult to sort out the earliest versions of the dance and derive an accurate picture of the foxtrot as danced in the 1910s.

Directions for dancing the foxtrot first began appearing in print in 1914.  While it did not appear in Vernon and Irene Castle's 1914 work, Modern Dancing, the Castles did include it that year in the booklet Victor Records for Dancing.  Two brief descriptions were also published in F. L. Clenenden's compendium, Dance Mad, also published in 1914, in St. Louis.  In 1915, Maurice Mouvet published his description of the foxtrot in Maurice's Art of Dancing, followed in 1919 by Charles Coll in Dancing Made Easy (link is to the 1922 reprint).

In addition to these written sources, a brief silent film clip dated 1916 shows dance instructors Clay Bassett and Catherine Elliott demonstrating "The Much Talked About 'Fox Trot'."

The Half & Half: Basic Traveling Steps

• Era: 1910s

The half and half, a hesitation waltz danced in 5/4 time, was one of those novelties that appeared and vanished quickly in 1914.  There may be as many people alive now who know how to dance it as ever danced it in its own era!  It is also handicapped by having very few surviving pieces of music in the right time signature.  Today's experienced historical social dancers can probably hum the eponymous "Half and Half" from memory.  Sources describing the dance are equally difficult to come by; I have only three in my collection, though one of them, Dance Mad, generously provides four separate descriptions.

Click here to listen to a half and half tune in 5/4 time.

Regency & Renaissance Dance Workshops, NYC (April 6, 2008)

I will be teaching two dance workshops for The Elegant Arts Society in New York City this Sunday, April 6th.  Logistical details are here.

The first (1:00-3:45pm) will focus on the dances of the Regency era (1810-1820), including steps and figures for country dances and the Royal Scotch and Caledonian Quadrilles, plus the Regency-era waltz.  The Royal Scotch Quadrilles feature the "star" figure described in an earlier article here.

The second class (4:00-6:00pm) will cover the popular low/high dance pairing of 16th-century Europe, the pavane and galliard.  Along with the simple, flowing steps of the pavane, we will also learn the lively kicks and capers of the galliard.  The galliard material will include the basic galliard sequence as well as non-standard rhythms and sequences, including double-length variations, pauses and poses, and syncopated sequences.

Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?

One of the difficulties in reconstructing 19th century quadrilles lies in the frequent inadequacy of the instructions for the figures.  This might include the lack of information on the amount of music occupied by a particular figure, unspoken assumptions about what is included in a figure, completely omitting a necessary figure or instruction, and the use of unconventional figures or timing.  One might simply ignore such dances, as there is hardly a shortage of quadrilles which lend themselves to straightforward reconstructions.  But for the dance historian it is an intriguing mental challenge to wrestle with these quadrilles and come up with workable reconstructions, even if at times this involves some creativity in the interpretation of the instructions.

Among these reconstruction challenges is the quadrille described in the notable mid-19th century source, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Charles Dodgson, a.k.a. Lewis Carroll, 1865).  Popularly known as the Lobster-Quadrille, it is notable both for its specific geographic requirements (it is impossible to perform the figures anywhere other than the seashore), its unusual partnering (every couple must include a lobster), and its unique figures, such as the swimming somersault.