- Era: 1880s into very early 1900s
Combining the one-slide rackets and three-slide rackets previously described creates an interestingly varied dance which is referred to by the prominent late-nineteenth-century dancing master Melvin B. Gilbert simply as the Racket, with no further descriptor. The unadorned term is used by other writers to refer to several different variations in both 2/4 and 3/4 time, however, leaving us with unwieldy labels such as Allen Dodworth's "Alternating the One Slide and Three Slide to Galop."
Whatever one may call it, the sequence is not difficult once both the one-slide and three-slide rackets have been mastered. Conceptually, one simply alternates two bars of one with two bars of the other to build an eight-bar sequence. For the one-slide racket, two bars will be moving to the left and right (in whichever order); for the three-slide racket, two bars means moving either to the left or to the right. So sequences may be built as follows:
2b three-slide to left
2b one-slide to right, one-slide to left
2b three-slide to right
2b one-slide to left, one-slide to right
The sequence may be commenced at any of the two-bar moves given above, though since one generally leads off a sequence with the left foot either the first or last pair of bars are the logical starting points. Broken down into steps (given for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite), the sequence in the order given above would be:
1 Slide left foot diagonally forward along line of dance
& Draw right foot to left
2 Slide left foot diagonally forward along line of dance
& Draw right foot to left
3 Slide left foot diagonally forward along line of dance
4 Draw right foot to left, displacing left (into second position raised) (="cut")
& Draw left foot to right, displacing right (cut)
1 Slide right foot diagonally forward along line of dance
2 Draw left foot to right, displacing right (cut)
& Draw right foot to left, displacing left (cut)
1 Slide left foot diagonally forward along line of dance
2 Draw right foot to left, displacing left (cut)
& Draw left foot to right, displacing right (cut)
1 Slide right foot diagonally forward along line of dance
& Draw left foot to right
2 Slide right foot diagonally forward along line of dance
& Draw left foot to right
3 Slide right foot diagonally forward along line of dance
4 Draw left foot to right, displacing right (cut)
& Draw right foot to left, displacing left (cut)
1 Slide left foot diagonally forward along line of dance
2 Draw right foot to left, displacing left (cut)
& Draw left foot to right, displacing right (cut)
1 Slide right foot diagonally forward along line of dance
2 Draw left foot to right, displacing right (cut)
& Draw right foot to left, displacing left (cut)
As with the individual rackets, the dancers start in a normal late-nineteenth-century ballroom hold with joined hands angled forward at a diagonal along the line of dance and follow a zig-zag track along the line of dance, not actually turning but changing angles from diagonally left forward to diagonally right forward and back on each pair of cuts. The mnemonic is: "one and two and three...cut-cut, one...cut-cut, two...cut-cut" (x2) in the rhythm "quick-quick-quick-quick, slow-quick-quick, slow-quick-quick, slow-quick-quick" (x2).
Leading Alternating One- and Three-Slide Rackets
Leading the change between one- and three-slide rackets is not difficult; it is the same technique as leading the three-slide racket itself. The leader must needs be very clear as to whether the dancers are pausing slightly after the first slide in a bar (preparatory to the cut-cut) or continuing to slide sideways for the rest of the bar. Those are the only two options: "slide-and-slide-and" or "slide, cut-cut." The one-slide racket consists solely of "slide, cut-cut," while the three-slide does both in sequence.
Since the overall sequence is eight bars in length, it will be most musical to begin it at the beginning of the musical phrase and after a set of galops or polka turns. The gentleman should hop lightly on the right foot (lady on the left) for momentum and then begin the sequence with either a three-slide or a one-slide racket to the left, completing the entire eight-bar sequence before returning to the galop or polka.
It is possible to commence the sequence on the right foot, if for some reason one wished to do this, by replacing the slight hop on the right foot with a cut by the left foot in order to free the right foot to begin the racket.
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The alternating one- and three-slide racket sequence is described in the following sources:
M.J. Koncen, Professor M.J. Koncen's Quadille Call Book and Ball Room Guide (St. Louis, c1883)
Allen Dodworth, Dancing and its Relation to Education and Social Life (New York, 1885, reprinted 1900)
M.B. Gilbert, Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890)
Edna Witherspoon, The Perfect Art of Modern Dancing (London & New York, 1894)
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