Capering & Kickery

Two "Branles Couppez" (Cut Branles) of Champagne

• Era: mid-1500s

"Our [musicians] of Lengres play ten in a suite, which they call the cut branles of Champagne."
          -- Capriol to Arbeau in a dialogue from Orchésographie; my translation. 

In Thoinot Arbeau's (pseudonym of Jehan Tabourot) 1589 dance manual, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography), the second set of branles he discusses are the "branles de Champagne couppez," or "cut branles of Champagne," one of a number of popular sets or "suittes" [sic] of branles.  Branles couppez, he explains, are characterized by a mix of steps, kicks, and jumps derived from the opening set of branles, with the occasional insertion of "mesures diverses" which do not follow the regular rhythms of the opening set.

An 1860s Schottische Quadrille

Here's a first for Kickery: a reconstruction of an entire quadrille!  The Original Set of Schottische Quadrille [sic] was published in Boston in 1862 in a compilation manual attributed to Elias Howe.  I have found no other sources for this particular quadrille.

I'm going to work through the entire dance figure by figure with a bit of discussion about the choices I made in this reconstruction.  Those who just want to print out the calls and take them off to teach it without having to sort through my reconstructive nattering, despair not: there's a link at the bottom of this post to a PDF handout you can download.

Holly Berry

• Era: late 1850s onward

“Mrs. Henderson has introduced this dance in compliance with the request of pupils and friends, who were at a loss for a cheerful country dance in which all might join without previous instruction in the fashionable dances.”

Holly Berry is a short set dance apparently composed by London dance teacher Mrs. Nicholas Henderson in the 1850s.  Its first known appearance is in the second edition of her Etiquette for Dancing, published in the 1850s.  The dance was also included in Elias Howe's American dancing master and ball-room prompter, published in Boston in 1862, which appears on the Library of Congress website here.  Howe's manual, unusually, includes a specific credit to Mrs. Henderson.

The dance is reminiscent of the galopade country dances of the 1830s and was perhaps seen as too old-fashioned in style by the mid-19th century.  It does not appear to have been commonly reprinted and probably was not wildly popular.  But it makes an interesting change of pace in a Victorian or American Civil War-era reenactment ballroom.

Decoupements: Subdividing the Steps in Branles

• Era: mid-1500s

Young men who have great agility make decoupements at their pleasure...
         -- from a dialogue between Capriol and Arbeau from Orchésographie; my translation

In Thoinot Arbeau's (pseudonym of Jehan Tabourot) book of dances, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography), published in the late 1580s, he described four very simple branles which were generally played to open a dance.  The sequences are simple enough to quickly become dull.  Happily, Arbeau also included a solution: the decoupement, a substitution of sets of kicks for individual steps in the branles.  Adding the occasional decoupement into a branle is a good way to impress other dancers, possibly inspiring them to echo the move and start an escalating competition in decoupements.

Arbeau's Opening Set of Branles

• Era: mid-1500s

"I have noted that in good company, one ordinarily begins a dance with branles."
          -- Capriol to Arbeau in a dialogue from Orchésographie; my translation. 

When Thoinot Arbeau (pseudonym of Jehan Tabourot) published his book of dances, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography), in the late 1580s, he began his discussion of branles with a set of four easy branles with which he said musicians customarily opened a dance: Branle Double, Branle Simple, Branle Gay, and Branle de Bourgoigne (Burgundy).  He further explains that the four were danced by different age groups: the elderly would dance the first two "gravely," the young married people would dance the third, and the youngest would "lightly" or "nimbly" ("legierement" = modern "légèrement") dance the fourth.

Regency Assembly, New Haven, CT (Oct 18-19, 2008)

Continuing with this month's all-announcements, all the time version of blogging, coming up in just under a month is The Elegant Arts Society's annual Regency Assembly, to be held in New Haven, Connecticut on the weekend of October 18-19, 2008.  On the Saturday, I will be teaching an afternoon dance workshop and precepting the evening ball to the accompaniment of the wonderful music of Spare Parts.  On the Sunday, there will be a costumed stroll in the park and then tea and Regency-era gaming (card games, dominoes, spillikins, backgammon, etc.)

Victorian Quadrilles; Long Island, NY (Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008)

I will be teaching a workshop on 19th-century quadrilles in Setauket, New York (Long Island) this weekend for The Long Island Traditional Music Association.  I plan to cover two full quadrilles (the mid-century version of The Caledonians and the 1880s Polo) as well as two or three promiscuous figures -- the Star and either the Gavotte or Minuet or both.

The workshop runs from 2:00-5:00pm and will be at the lovely Setauket Neighborhood House (directions on the LITMA site).  The dancing will be accompanied by the wonderful music of Marnen Laibow-Koser.  Full details are on the LITMA site.

I'd be delighted to meet any Kickery readers who might attend; please make yourself known!

Victorian Dance at Saloncon; NJ (September 13, 2008)

Sorry to have so many announcement posts and so little content so far this month; I promise to get better next week as my schedule eases up a little bit!

This weekend I'm going to be doing a short Victorian dance workshop at Saloncon, which is an interesting little Steampunk convention in Somerset, New Jersey.  I'll be teaching from 1:50-2:55pm (see below) and will probably cover basic waltz and some set dances; I'm thinking an 1890s Waltz Quadrille, the mid-century "Gothic Dance", and one of the more interesting promiscuous quadrille figures.  We might do a bit of polka or galop as well, time permitting.

As always, I'd be delighted to meet any Kickery readers who might be attending -- please make yourself known!

UPDATED 9/12/08: The most recent version of the Saloncon schedule now has this workshop occurring from 12:40-1:45pm.  I guess I'll find out when I get there!

Regency & Ragtime Dance Workshops, NYC (Sept. 7, 2008)

I will be teaching two dance workshops for The Elegant Arts Society in New York City this Sunday, September 7th.  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.  We will also dance the nine person reel known as the Bumpkin!

The second class (4:00-6:00pm) will focus on the swaying moves of the maxixe, or Brazilian tango, a hot dance fad in the early 1910s.  This is not a class in Richard Powers' maxixe choreography; I will be teaching how to dance the maxixe freestyle to the music of Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth.