For the fourth in my series of posts (previously: setting, crossing over, and chassez-dechassez) on the step-sequences usable for various Regency-era French quadrille figures, I've pulled together three easy sequences which may be used for the figure En avant et en arrière (advance and retire or, more colloquially, forward and back), in which some number of dancers move forward to the halfway point of the quadrille set and then backward to places. It is an extremely common figure; in the first set alone, it appears in multiple figures: L'Été, La Poule, La Trenise, La Pastourelle, and the many versions of the Finale figure which incorporate L'Été. The move is sometimes written simply as En avant deux (trois, quatre, etc.); the return backwards is implied unless otherwise specified.
This is not an exhaustive list of all the period sequences I have for this move, but it should suffice for most dancers. The sequences are drawn from four sources:
Anonymous. Contre Danses à Paris 1818. [Scotland], 1818.
Gourdoux-Daux, J.H. Principes et notions élémentaires sur l'art de la danse. Second edition. Paris, 1811.
Goudoux-Daux, J.H., translated by V. Guillou. Elements and Principles of the Art of Dancing. Philadelphia, 1817.
Strathy, Alexander. Elements of the Art of Dancing. Edinburgh, 1823.
The 1817 Guillou purports to be a translation of the 1811 Gourdoux-Daux, but it includes additional material not in the French edition. These two will be distinguished as "Gourdoux-Daux" and "Guillou" below.
Steps
Following are abbreviated instructions for performing the steps
used. These are intended only as summaries and do not include all the
niceties of bending and rising required for excellence in period
practice.
Chassé
(forward or backward):
after an initiating hop on the left foot on the upbeat ("and") during
which the right foot is extended forward, step with the right foot forward into fourth ("ONE"), close the left foot behind it ("and"),
and move the right foot forward again ("TWO"). This move
takes an
entire bar (and-ONE-and-TWO) and can also be done leading with the left
foot and moving backwards.
Glissade: sliding one foot to the side and closing the other foot to fifth or third position. A glissade dessous indicates closing the trailing foot behind; a glissade dessus indicates closing it in front ("before"). The slide to the side is performed on the upbeat ("and") with the close coming on the downbeat ("ONE"). Dessous and dessus are so nearly indistinguishable both on the page and when spoken aloud that I have written them out below as "behind" and "before."
Jeté: extend one foot out directly to the side (second position raised) then leap onto it, bringing it in either behind or before and raising the other foot to point straight down, close along the leg. This is a sharp "out and in" motion rather than a curving ronde de jambe. Practice flicking the foot in and out of second position raised will be useful. The step is initiated on the upbeat and lands on the downbeat.
Assemblé: extend one foot out directly to the side (second position raised) then bring it in either behind or before while hopping into the air, landing in either third or fifth position with weight equally on both feet, bending the knees slightly when landing rather than locking them. Again, this is an "in and out" motion. The step is initiated on the upbeat and lands on the downbeat.
Sissone: hop on one foot while pointing the other foot straight down, close along the leg, either behind (dessous) or before (dessus). The sissone is also performed with the free leg extended in a raised second position, but this is not used in any of these particular sequences. The hop is initiated on the upbeat and lands on the downbeat.
Sequences for En Avant et en Arrière
1. The default sequence for this move, found in all four sources, including both the diagrams and the verbal description in Contre Danses, is:
1b Jeté left before, assemblé right before
1b Chassé (left backward)
1b Jeté right behind, assemblé left behind
count: and ONE and TWO, THREE, FOUR twice
Strathy gives an alternate sequence for the final bar:
1b Jeté right before, assemblé left behind
In this version, both the jeté and the assemblé replace the foot exactly where it started. The jeté begins and ends right before; the assemblé, left behind. I feel that this variation adds difficulty without adding any aesthetic improvement.
2. A second sequence, found in Gourdoux-Daux and in the Guillou translation, is:
1b Jeté left before, assemblé right before
1b Sissone left behind, glissade before to left
1b Glissade behind to left, assemblé left behind
count: and ONE and TWO, THREE, FOUR, ONE and TWO and THREE, FOUR
On the third bar, the dancer turns one quarter to the left (counter-clockwise) in order to aim the two glissades back to the original position. Guillou adds the eyebrow-raising instruction to perform the final assemblé "as you finish the turn," which suggests the unlikely prospect of turning three-quarters counter-clockwise on the final move of the sequence. This instruction is nowhere to be found in the original; presumably one merely made a more sensible quarter-turn back to the right (clockwise) on the final move to once more face into the set.
3. Finally, there is a perky little sequence found only in Guillou:
1b Jeté left before, assemblé right before
1b Sissone right behind, jeté right behind
1b Jeté left behind, assemblé right before
count: ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR twice
This is an unusual step-sequence for the era in that it begins on the left foot. In performing the sequence one must be careful to make the strong "out-and-in" motion on the jeté steps lest the sequence devolve into a bouncy walk forward and backward. For the sissone, the right foot must be brought swiftly from the front to the back, and the final assemblé is done both beginning and ending with the right foot in front of the left.
This sequence may be seen in Elizabeth Aldrich's reconstruction, performed by Cheryl Stafford and Thomas Baird, at the Library of Congress website. Aldrich has altered the second half of the sequence to eliminate the two issues mentioned above by having the sissone performed with the left foot behind and the feet switched for the two jeté steps, with a final assemblé left landing behind. This is easier to perform and is certainly a credible sequence for the period, but it is not the one given in Guillou!
Comments