- Era: 1890s-very early 1900s
The Yale University York is one of those dance variations that probably had a short to nonexistent life outside the studio of its creator and a few other dancing masters. Unlike the original York (described here), it seems to appear only in two sources: Melvin Gilbert's Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) and George Washington Lopp's, La Danse (Paris, 1903), much of which is merely a direct translation of Gilbert. Both Gilbert and Lopp attribute it to A.M. Loomis. Despite its obscurity and probable lack of popularity in its own time, I am devoting a post to it primarily because as a Yale alumna I am charmed whenever anyone names a dance after my alma mater.
The Yale University York is really just a rearranged version of the original York, also in 3/4 time, and is actually an easier dance to perform. Rather than alternating traveling along the line of dance and turning, the four bars of this variation include two consecutive bars of traveling followed by two consecutive bars of turning, for a rhythm pattern of:
1&2-3
1&2-3
&1-2-3
&1-2-3
The relationship between the patterns of the York and the Yale University York is precisely the same as that between the contemporary Le Metropole and Gavotte Glide.
The couple starts in a normal close ballroom hold with the gentleman facing outward and the lady facing the center of the room, joined hands toward line of dance. The steps given above and below are for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite.
The first two bars are repeats of the first bar of the York:
1 Slide the left foot along line of dance
&2 Close with the right foot and slide the left foot again (chassé)
3
Close with the right foot in first position
1 Slide the left foot along line of dance
&2 Close with the right foot and slide the left foot again (chassé)
3
Close with the right foot in first position
The irregular rhythm pattern is, in effect, "quick quick slow slow." This feels surprisingly relaxed, with the dancers coming nearly to a halt on the close of the feet on the third beat. Unlike the York itself, I would not treat the close of the feet on beat 3 of the first bar as a cut; the left foot would be left hanging oddly in the air and not fall naturally into the following slide of the second bar. At the end of the second bar, Gilbert and Lopp are consistent in describing it as a close and neither mentions the heel-click of the original York, so for the succeeding hop I would simply raise the foot, toe pointed down.
The third and fourth bars are a complete turn of polka redowa:
&1
Hop on the right foot and slide left to side
2
Close with the right foot, displacing left (cut)
3
Leap onto the left foot across line of dance, making a half turn
&1
Hop on the left foot and slide right to side
2
Close with the left foot, displacing right (cut)
3
Leap (small) onto the right foot along line of dance, making a half turn
The turning uses the typical method of the nineteenth-century round dance, with the lady dancing the same two bars as the gentleman but in reverse order, so that she is making a small leap along the line of dance in bar three and the longer leap with the left foot across the line of dance in bar four.
The key to leading the first two bars of the Yale University York is to carefully control the linear momentum so that the lady speeds up and slows down at the appropriate moment in each bar. The polka redowa is then led in the usual way, with the distinct upward motion of the hop, forward angle of the slide, back angle of the cut, and so forth.
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