The Galop Racket or One-Slide Racket

• Era: 1880s into very early 1900s

The galop racket or one-slide racket is the simplest of the various rackets and is described under  both names in different sources.  In one Parisian manual it is simply "La Raquette," though most other sources agree that "the" racket is a compound sequence mixing two different racket rhythms.  Prominent New England dancing master M.B. Gilbert explained it simply as "Pas de Basque sidewise" in 2/4 time.

The instructions below are for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite.  The dancers start in a normal late-nineteenth-century ballroom hold with joined hands angled forward at a diagonal along the line of dance.  The dance follows a zig-zag track along the line of dance; there is no turning involved.

How to dance the galop racket or one-slide racket (two bars)
1    Slide left foot diagonally forward along line of dance
2    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)

The mnemonic is "sliiiide, cut-cut, sliiiide, cut-cut" in the rhythm slow, quick-quick, slow, quick-quick.  All moves are made at angles, first diagonally left forward then diagonally right forward, with the change of angle occuring on the pairs of cuts.

To begin the one-slide racket from the end of a full turn of polka (two bars) or full four-slide galop sequence (four bars; see description of the galop here), hop lightly on the right foot on the upbeat (&) and then commence the first slide with the left foot along the line of dance.  In leading the change, lengthen the slide and emphasize its duration and the delay before the cut in the racket timing: "one, two" vs. the "one-and" of the slide-close in the galop.

Two interesting ways to combine galops and one-slide rackets (not given in the sources but sure to occur to accomplished dancers) follow, with directions given for the gentleman:

Four bars: first half of four-slide galop (two bars) plus one-slide racket (two bars).  Add an extra close of the right foot at the end of the four-slide (&) to free the left to slide foward into the two bars of racket described above, with the first half at the same angle as the galop.  At the end of the racket sequence, the dancers will again have their first feet free to galop again or continue to racket.  The rhythm of the entire sequence is: 1&2&3&4&1-2&3-4&.  The same technique may be used to combine the first half of an eight-slide galop with four bars of one-slide racket.

Eight bars: first half of four-slide galop (two bars) plus one-slide racket starting right foot (two bars) followed by second half of four slide galop (two bars) and one-slide racket starting left foot (two bars).  At the end of the four-slide, do not make the extra close as above.  Hop on the left foot on the upbeat (&) and angle the right shoulder forward to start the one-slide racket by sliding the right foot forward, doing the second half of the sequence above followed by the first half.  Then complete the four-slide galop, ending by hopping on the right foot (&), followed by another sequence of racket exactly as given above.  The dancers will again end with their first feet free.  The rhythm for this variation is: 1&2&3&4&1-2&1-2&1&2&3&4&1-2&1-2&.  Doubling the length of the galop and racket segments (half of an eight-slide galop and four bars of racket, repeated) is also possible for an extended sixteen-bar sequence.

Combinations with polka steps forward are also possible, following the same techniques for initiating the racket on either the left or right foot: two bars of polka forward followed by two bars of one-slide racket, or one bar of polka followed by two bars of one-slide racket and then another bar of polka.  Further combinations are left to the imagination of the dancers.

It is, of course, possible for the dancers to make a half-turn at the end of a polka or galop step and begin to racket with the gentleman moving backwards and the lady forwards.  This admirable impulse to avoid making the lady dance backward should be tempered in a crowded ballroom by consciousness of the dangers involved in having the gentleman unable to see where he is going or who might be in the way while leading the lady at the fast tempo typical of the galop.

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The One-Slide Racket is described in the following sources:

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)

Henri de Soria Fils, Manuel du Maintien et de la Danse (Paris, n.d. but circa 1895)

Marguerite Wilson, Dancing (Philadelphia, 1899, reprinted regularly through the 1920s)

Comments

[Almita]

Oh My I would so love to learn how to Racket, that is my style, I with i lived in the 19th Century.