- Era: mid-19th century America
The Rustic Reel is a simple contra dance found in mid-19th century American manuals, primarily during the Civil War era of the1860s, though it appears as early as 1841 and as late as the 1880s. Some sources note that it is particularly well suited to being the last dance in an evening:
...this dance is continued until the master of the ceremonies thinks it has been gone equally through, and generally finishes the evening's festivity, and ought not to be used at any other time.
--- The ball-room instructer [sic], 1841.
Note that the lines of three make it awkward to put on a dance card, since each dancer needs two partners.
Any lively twenty-four bar piece of music can be used; one source specifies 6/8 time, while another suggests a Scotch reel tune. The dance is formed by lines of three (a gentleman between two ladies) facing three down the room or in a circle, as in the diagram below. All dancers commence at the same time.
Dancers in position for the Rustic Reel (from Koncen, c1883)
The most common form of the dance is:
8b Each gentleman chassez out with right hand lady opposite and back
8b Each gentleman chassez out with left hand lady opposite and back
8b Forward and back, forward and pass through
For the chassez, dancers can take two hands (straight or crossed) or a ballroom hold. In the latter case, either the first chassez must be made over elbows or the dancers must take a reverse ballroom hold (gentleman's left arm on lady's back, his right hand extended, holding her left hand). No source that I have found specified the exact hold. My preference is for the crossed hand hold, which echoes a quadrille balance sequence used in the mid-19th century. With the wide sets and long chassez sequences, the dance requires either plenty of space or very disciplined dancers -- and the nature of the dance does not lend itself to discipline!
Two later sources (Reilley, 1870 and Rivers, c1885) give an alternate set of figures for the first sixteen bars:
8b Each gentleman balance to and turn right hand lady opposite
8b Each gentleman balance to and turn left hand lady opposite
Neither Rivers nor Reilley specified how the balance was to be accomplished. In his quadrilles, Rivers uses a chassez form of balance in which the partners take cross hands and chassez four counts out and four back, similar to the longer chassez figures in the usual version. The dancers might also take three small steps and a close toward each other and back or, conceivably, the man alone might move toward the lady while she stands still. My preference would be for the Rivers chassez balance, which keeps the spirit of the usual figures but works better in crowded ballroom.
One source (Brooks, 1866) gives yet another set of figures:
4b Each gentleman turns right hand lady opposite by right hand
4b Each gentleman turns left hand lady opposite by left hand
4b Half promenade with right hand partners
4b Half right and left to places
This is a slightly more difficult figure. The half promenade and half right and left to places are done diagonally across the set. Brooks specifically notes that the dancers turn individually at end of set so that the lady on left going down is on right going up, presumably because in this version the left-hand ladies spend less time than the right-hand ladies actually dancing. Most dancers will do this instinctively, since it is awkward to turn a line of three as a whole.
Sources
The Rustic Reel appears in many sources of the mid-19th century; a representative sample includes:
Anonymous. The ball-room instructer [sic]. New York, 1841.
Anonymous. How to dance. A complete ball-room and party guide. New York, 1878.
Brooks. C. The ball-room monitor. Third edition. Philadelphia, 1866.
Brookes, Laurence De Garmo. Brookes on modern dancing. New York, 1867.
Hillgrove, Thomas. A complete practical guide to the art of dancing. New York, 1863.
Howe, Elias (attrib). Howe’s complete ball-room hand book. Boston, 1858.
Koncen, M. J. Prof. M.J. Koncen’s quadrille call book and ball-room guide. St Louis, c1883.
Reilley, E.B. The amateur's vademecum. A practical treatise on the art of dancing. Philadelphia, 1870.
Rivers, C.H. A full description of modern dances. Brooklyn, c1885.
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