Crossing Over Sequences for Regency-Era French Quadrilles

As with setting, there are a number of different step sequences available for dancers to use in the Regency-era quadrille figure Traversez (cross over), in which a lady and the gentleman opposite her exchange places.  Traversez appears most notably in L'Été, the second figure of the first set of French quadrilles, and in the many versions of the Finale figure which incorporate L'Été.  Below I will give a sample of five of the easier step sequences that may be used to dance Traversez.  This is not an exhaustive list of all the period sequences I have for this move, but it should suffice for most dancers.

These 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, 1822.

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.

Contre Danses à Paris 1818 (hereafter simply Contre Danses) helpfully includes both a verbal description of three different step sequences and actual diagrams showing the move with the default step sequence.

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: after an initiating hop on the left foot on the upbeat ("and"), move the right foot forward ("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.

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 Traversez
1. The default sequence for this figure is found in Strathy, Contre Danses (in both the diagrams and the verbal descriptions), Gourdoux-Daux, and Guillou.  It consists simply of the standard quadrille step sequence:

3b    Three chassé (right, left, right)
1b    Jeté left before, assemblé right before

count: and ONE and TWO and THREE and FOUR and ONE and TWO, THREE, FOUR

The diagrams in Contre Danses are clear that the the dancers pass right shoulders and curve gently around clockwise to come to the opposite side, facing into the set and slightly further in than the neighboring dancer, to allow for the oft-following move in which the dancers move to the right and then to the left.  An interesting variation would be to perform the second chassé (with the left foot) moving sideways, so that the two dancers face each other briefly before returning to a forward motion on the third chassé to complete the figure.  This is not spelled out explicitly in any source I have found, but the idea of the dancers briefly facing each other is found in other sequences for this move, as given below.

2. A slightly more challenging sequence, found in Strathy and in the verbal descriptions in Contre Danses, is performed as follows:

1b    Chassé (right)
1b    Glissade left behind, assemblé left behind
 2b    Repeat all of the above

count: and ONE and TWO and THREE, FOUR twice

In this sequence, the dancers move straight forward on the chassé, then make a quarter turn right (clockwise) for the glissade and face each other briefly as they assemblé.  They once again face toward the opposite side for the second chassé, then make a quick half-turn clockwise to glissade into place for the final assemblé. 

3. A more complex variation of the second sequence is given in Gourdoux-Daux and Guillou as follows:

1b    Chassé (right)
1b    Jeté left before, assemblé right before
1b    Sissone left behind, glissade left behind
1b    Jeté left before, assemblé right before       

count: and ONE and TWO, THREE, FOUR, ONE and TWO, THREE, FOUR

This sequence allows the dancers to face each other for a bit longer.  They chassé forward, then make a quarter-turn clockwise on the jeté-assemblé to face the other dancer.  They continue to face each other on the sissone before moving past each other at an angle with the glissade to opposite places, where they perform the final jeté (left foot begins in front and is replaced in front) and assemblé.

4. Continuing up the scale of complexity, the Guillou translation gives one further sequence which is not in the French original.  The dancers begin by turning a quarter to the left (counter-clockwise) so that their right shoulder is leading.

1b    Glissade right before, glissade right behind
1b    Jeté right behind, assemblé left behind
1b    Sissone left behind, glissade left before
1b    Glissade left behind, assemblé left behind   

count: and ONE and TWO, THREE, FOUR, ONE and TWO and THREE, FOUR

There are two different ways to interpret the instructions.  My preference would be for the dancers to start moving in back to back and on the second bar turn one-quarter counter-clockwise on the jeté and then a further quarter-turn on the assemblé so as to face their each other during the following sissone.  They then depart at an angle with the two glissades to their new places for the final assemblé.  An alternate interpretation would be for the dancers to approach each other so as to come face to face on the initial glissades then turn away from each other for the remainder of the sequence before turning to face in at the end.  This interpretation, by Elizabeth Aldrich, is performed by Cheryl Stafford and Thomas Baird in a video clip here, using more of a jeté tendu than a jeté dessous; the tendu version is a perfectly legitimate period step but not actually the one described by Gourdoux-Daux or Guillou.  Leaving that aside, I take issue with the Aldrich reconstruction primarily because it alters the track of the sequence so that the dancers are moving around each other counter-clockwise instead of clockwise.  This makes it different from and incompatible with the other step-sequences given for this figure.  I also personally find it less appealing and less in the style of the other sequences to be back to back for the sissone rather than facing one's partner.

Either way, this is an attractively dramatic sequence, though it may be a little disconcerting to an opposite who is not expecting it (or more than disconcerting if one performs Aldrich's counter-clockwise reconstruction when one's opposite is moving clockwise!)  Some practice is required to gracefully perform the counter-clockwise half-turn with the jeté right behind and assemblé left behind, but the final move to places is actually easier than in #3 above, since there are two glissades allowed rather than one.

5. Finally, for those who struggle any step other than the chassé and need an even simpler sequence than the any of the ones given above, Contre Danses offers a sequence of four chassé steps.

Comments

[Oleksiy]

Thanks for interesting selection.
I have a little remark for 3rd sequence:

3.
1b Sissone left behind, glissade left behind
1b Jeté left before, assemblé right before

Maybe glissade left before? I think, right (trailing) foot must be before the left after 3rd bar.

[Susan de Guardiola]

No, it's definitely glissade left behind. The jeté is begun with left foot in front and ends with left foot in front. This is fairly common period way of correcting so that the entire sequence ends with right foot in front. Yes, that problem could have been solved by making it a glissade dessus instead, but for whatever reason they didn't do it that way. Perhaps they wanted to balance out the amount of forward motion in the sequence so the dancers did not end up in front of their original positions.

This comes up again in sequences for chassez-dechassez.

[Oleksiy]

Maybe Gourdoux-Daux likes a changes of feet after sissone (left behind for left before) more than changes of feet after jeté... %)
OK, I'll try to dance this sequence if it not a misprint.
Thanks for answer.

[Susan de Guardiola]

I'm giving the sequences exactly as they are in the sources, but I don't think this one would lose significantly in the authenticity department if the glissade etc. were switched; that still feels like a reasonable period sequence. It's clear that people could make up their own sequences, and given that sequences for some moves use glissades dessous and dessus fairly interchangeably (like the three setting sequences where the only difference is the closing of the glissades) I don't think it's that big a deal.