- Era: 1890s-very early 1900s
(Edited 6/3/24 to add: more information about the somewhat earlier (c1885) origin of the York may be found at my articles "The Invention of the York" and "Revisiting La Russe")
The York is a waltz dance in the redowa/mazurka family which appeared in several American dance manuals in the last decade of the 19th century. The earliest reference I have located is in Melvin Gilbert's Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890), where he includes it "by permission of E.W. Masters," possibly the creator. George Washington Lopp, who reprinted much of Gilbert in La Danse (Paris, 1903) directly attributes it to Masters. (The underlined part of the first sentence of this paragraph added 12/22/2023 to make it clear at the start that this is a redowa/mazurka, not a waltz, and a distinct dance, not just a variation.)
Unlike many of the variations included in Gilbert, the York seems to have enjoyed some minor success. Allen Dodworth did not include it in the first (1885) edition of his substantial tome, Dancing, but it appears in the 1900 edition in an appendix of recently developed dances which appear to be have been copied in large part from Marguerite Wilson's Dancing (Philadelphia, 1899). Wilson's fellow Philadelphian, dancing master Albert Newman, included it as "Yorke (Mazurka)" in his 1903 A Complete Practical Guide to Modern Society Dancing, and Wisconsin dancing master A.C. Wirth has "The Yorke" in his 1902 Complete Quadrille Call Book and Dancing Master. It also appears with identical language to Wirth's in D.F. Jay's A.B.C. Guide to Ballroom Dancing, published in Chicago around 1900, and M.I. Quick's Complete Guide to Dancing, also Chicago, 1903. All three midwestern manuals were probably plagiarized from a common source.
The description of the York is consistent among the various sources. It is danced in 3/4 time, with the rhythm "1&2-3&1-2-3" as follows:
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, displacing left into a raised second position (cut)
&1 Hop on the right foot (optionally, clicking heels) 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
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 are for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite and on the last beat makes a very small leap, allowing the gentleman to leap across the line of dance ahead of her for the half-turn. On the repeat, the lady starts with the left foot and the gentleman with the right and the lady leaps across the line of dance for the second half-turn. The complete sequence takes four bars.
The "closes" given above are described variously as either "drawing the right to left," "R.F. 3rd rear position," or "change to left," with the latter being including a displacement of the left foot into the air in a raised second position. This is not particularly important on the first close, which is followed so quickly by a slide of the left foot that it blends into a chassé sequence (Gilbert uses that term to describe it) with little practical distinction between a close and a cut. But on the second and third closes, the difference between a "close" and a "cut" is more substantial, and different writers seem to have different preferences. Newman and Lopp seem to suggest a simple close, while Dodworth/Wilson and Wirth/Quick/Jay indicate the actual displacement of the left foot. My personal preference is for a full "cut," bringing the left foot to raised second position, which produces a livelier dance and makes the heel-click notably easier with the left foot already raised and ready to be brought in to click against the right.
The York has some of the characteristics associated with the mazurka, and the different dancing masters take note of this. Gilbert includes it under redowa and mazurka variations rather than waltz variations, and both he and the midwestern authors note the option of the heel-click on the hop:
To strike the heels together...while making the hop, causing the dance to partake of the Mazurka, is an excellent innovation. (Gilbert)
In order to give the mazurka effect, one must strike the heels together, although it is not necessary... (Wirth/Quick/Jay)
Dodworth calls it
a variation of the Polka Mazurka, having the same music, same time, and, with one exception, the same succession of motions.
The polka mazurka, as previously discussed, breaks down into a combination of the so-called "mazourka step" (slide-cut-hop) and the polka redowa, or polka in redowa time (hop-slide, cut, leap), omitting the initating hop of the polka redowa. The second bar of the York is indeed a polka redowa, including the initiating hop, and the overall sequence does resemble a differently-accented polka mazurka with an added slide at the beginning:
York Polka Mazurka
1 Slide Slide
&2 Cut-slide Cut
3 Cut Hop
&1 Hop-slide Slide
2 Cut Cut
3 Leap Leap
Leading the York is not difficult for dancers already familiar with the polka mazurka. During the first bar, a strong linear drive sideways along the line of dance will guide the lady into the "slide-cut-slide, cut" sequence of the first bar, with the momentum slowing on the final cut and alternately angling the body against and along the line of dance to cue the "hop-slide, cut, leap" of the second part.
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