Capering & Kickery

CD Review: The Pride & Prejudice Collection

I'm always interested in suitable dance music for the Regency/Jane Austen era, but having expected that, I was very disappointed in The Pride & Prejudice Collection from the UK-based Pemberley Players that is subtitled "A Selection of Dances Popular in the 18th and 19th Centuries."

But first, the good parts:

The Pemberley Players are an English quintet under the leadership of David Fleming-Williams that specializes in playing country dance music.  They have an absolutely lovely sound: a piano, two violins, a cello, an a flute.  I suspect they aren't using an 18th-century piano, but I don't know enough about the difference in sound for it to matter for me.  The strings are beautiful, and the instrument mix very suitable for the era.  You can tell this is an experienced dance band: they keep their tempos steady and avoid artsy tricks that make things difficult for dancers.  It's a lovely listening experience.

As a source of usable period dance music, however, it's got some problems. 

Victorian Dance Workshop, NYC (Sunday, May 23, 2010)

I will be teaching a mid-19th century dance workshop in New York City on Sunday, May 23rd, for a new group, Vintage Dance Northeast.

19th Century Ballroom Basics: Step back in time, step forward to waltz!
May 23rd 2-5 PM
NOLA Studio C - 250 W. 54st 11th Floor
New York, New York

19th Century Ballroom Basics will cover rotary waltz, polka and a popular quadrille of the era. This is a great venue learn the basics of Victorian ballroom dance, or just brush up on your technique and improve your dance style.  This is great preparation for a Civil War or other Victorian ball.  No experience or partner is required to attend.

The workshop cost is $20.00 per adult, $10.00 for students with ID.  Online registration is available at the Vintage Dance Northeast website.

For more information, please see the class Facebook page, visit the Vintage Dance Northeast website or Facebook page, or contact the organizers by email.

The Palais Glide

Between the two World Wars a fad for easy and often silly "romping" sequence dances swept Britain.  The Lambeth Walk is the best known of these, but many others survive.  Among them is the Palais Glide, which can be done by a couple or by an entire line of dancers side-by-side in a line, arms around each others' waists.  It is a living tradition in the British isles, having been danced continuously since the 1930s, and survives today as a ceilidh and party dance as well as being performed by World War II reenactors.

Most secondary sources consider the Lambeth Walk (1937) the first of the romping sequence dances and date the Palais Glide to 1938, but one of my sheet music sources for it is actually dated 1935.  This might be a misprint, or it might be that it took a few years to catch on or that it was not popularly accepted until after the Lambeth Walk.

The dance requires eight bars of 4/4 music and consists of a thrice-repeated short grapevine sequences in a slow-quick-quick-slow rhythm followed by a series of forward steps.  In 2001, Syd Bruce recalled dancing it during World War II:

I can remember as a teenager during the war, going to socials and dances in the school, attended by soldiers and land girls billeted in the village and sometimes sailors from Point Clear, which were very popular.  Seeing the Palais Glide, Waltz etc and even the Highland Fling performed in army boots was something to behold!

New England Folk Festival (NEFFA), Mansfield, Massachusetts (Saturday-Sunday, April 24-25, 2010)

I'm putting the finishing touches this weekend on all the dance stuff I'm doing for the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA), where I'll be appearing on the weekend of April 24-25.

On the Saturday, I'll be doing three workshops:

- 11:00AM Intermediate Cross-Step Waltz (a lovely modern waltz form) with Harmonic Regression

- 4:00PM Introduction to Ragtime Dance (1910s one-step, two-step, foxtrot) with recorded music

-10:00PM Travelin' Blues (1910s-1920s moves for blues) with Notorious

On the Sunday, I will be performing in the 2:45PM slot with a group of my local dance students.  We'll be doing a short program with two cross-step waltzes, an 1810s waltz sequence, and an 1880s galop and racket sequence.

In between all this, I hope to get in some good contra, attend some interesting dance workshop sessions (hambo, 19th century quadrille) and do a little hoopdance jamming out in the hoped-for sunshine.

As always, I'd be happy to chat with Kickery readers.  The best time to catch me is right after one of my sessions.

1930s Waltz Variations: The Dip Waltz

This is the second in a series of short descriptions of waltz variations taken from 1930s sources, specifically, in this case, the 1936 edition of Lillian Ray's Modern Ballroom Dancing.  See the previous post in this series for a quick note about the basic waltz of this era as well as descriptions of the Waltz Walking steps and Step Arch Waltz from the same source.

This time I will discuss an easy hesitation called the Dip Waltz, Ray's step diagram for which is shown at left (click to enlarge). The man's footwork is depicted; the woman dances opposite.  It's a six-count (two-bar) sequence that can be summarized as "step-step-cross, back-side-close," with the second bar effectively being a backward box step.  The first bar consists of two walking steps forward (left, right; the woman dances backwards right, left) and then a cross of the left foot in front of the right, described in detail as:

Cross the left foot over and in front of the right foot with a pronounced dip or bend of the right knee, at the same time lift the right foot to the left of the left foot slightly and sharply off the floor.

After the crossing step, the fourth step is simply replacing the right foot (woman's left) where it was before and then continuing with a side-close as in a normal backward box step.

Two Easy 1930s Waltz Variations

I've been looking through quite a few 1920s and 1930s sources lately.  This is the era when modern ballroom dances were starting to take their current forms but the syllabus had not yet been standardized, so the waltz was relatively simple with fewer variations which differed from one teacher or manual to another.

The basic waltz of this era was the direct descendant of the "new waltz" of the later nineteenth century, with "step-side-close" as its basic structure.  This could be danced progressing along the line of dance (the leader always stepping forward on one), done as a "box step" in place by alternating forward and backward steps on the first beat of each bar, or used for quarter-turns (four bars to make a full turn) and half-turns (two bars to make a full turn) in the natural or reverse directions.  All of these use that same basic step sequence with only minor variations of angle and direction.

The 1936 edition of Lillian Ray's Modern Ballroom Dancing is the sixth edition of a work originally published in 1930 in Chicago.  A publisher's note states that this edition has been revised to add new steps and the latest exhibition dances and to make instructions and diagrams clearer.  Apparently this revision was substantial enough to require a title page credit: "Revised by Billie and Earl of Billie's Dancing School."

Along with the basic progressive, in-place, and turning movements using the basic step, this edition includes five easy variations that break the step-side-close pattern but are very accessible to the beginning waltzer.  I'll look at the two simplest of them in this post and the other three in future posts.

Sailing Masters Regency Ball, Essex, Connecticut (Saturday, May 8, 2010)

Coming up in just a month: an exciting new Regency ball hosted by the Sailing Masters of 1812, a Connecticut fife and drum corps.  The ball will be part of the annual Burning of the Ships commemoration, a larger event featuring a paradeof fife and drum corps from all over the state.

I will be precepting the ball with a lively selection of country dances (and perhaps a scandalous waltz or two) accompanied by my favorite dance musicians, Spare Parts.  This will be a very beginner-friendly ball; those intimidated by Regency-era stepwork should not worry -- with this size group, steps won't be emphasized much beyond an encouragement to skip, though fancy footwork is always welcome from those who know it.

Tickets to the ball are only $15 per person.  Details and ticket ordering information may be found at the ball's website here. .There is also a Facebook page.

Branle de la Poule

Edited to add: For those reading this long after it was originally posted, please note the significance of the original posting date!

• Era: mid-1500s (?) to present

"The mimed branle called the Branle de la Poule has found particular favor among the students at the great universities.  I have placed notes in the tablature to explain the gestures...."  (my translation from the original French)
          -- from a recently discovered dance fragment signed "T____ A____"

It's always a thrill to discover an entirely new piece of dance history, and since the 16th century is one of my favorites I was especially excited to find something new from that era to add to my dance repertoire.  The handwritten source for this dance was found amidst a varied collection of books and papers in a musty church basement located near a major research university and rare book library.  The language and phrasing of the source and the nearly illegible signature suggest that Branle de la Poule might actually be one of the miming branles (branles morguez) discussed in the pseudonymous Thoinot Arbeau's 1589 dance manual, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography), similar to the Branle des Lavandieres and Branle des Pois.  Like those branles, it includes imitative gestures and movements in keeping with its title.  The signature is mostly illegible, but the initials T and A are clear, suggesting that it might actually have been written by Arbeau himself.  The source has not yet been dated, but the contents are sufficiently exciting that I am making them known somewhat prematurely as a service to the historical dance community.