Capering & Kickery

June 2012 Gig Calendar

June and July are my relatively quiet months this year, at least for public events, though I'm still adding things to my calender.  Here's the current status, with more TBA:

Sunday, June 3rd ~ New York City
Regency Dance Workshop
Beginner-friendly lesson 2:00-4:00pm

Sunday, June 3rd ~ New York City
Ragtime Hesitation Waltz Workshop
4:00-5:00pm

Sunday, June 3rd ~ New York City
Cross-Step Waltz Alternate Rhythms (2/4 & 5/4) Workshop
4:00-5:00pm

Tuesday, June 5th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Jane Austen Era Dancing
Beginner-friendly lesson 8:15-9:30pm.  No costume needed.

Sunday, June 17th ~ New Haven, Connecticut
Yale Swing & Blues Sunday Night Practicum (Harkness Lounge, Yale School of Medicine)
8:00-11:00pm.  DJing blues for the second st 9:30-11:00.

Tuesday, June 26th ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy
7:30-11:00pm.  DJing blues for the second set.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am also available for private lessons in Connecticut (New Haven or Middletown) generally, and occasionally in New York City and Boston.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

New Haven & Middletown, Connecticut: generally available
Boston: June 27-30th

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wilson's New Reel of Six

In the early nineteenth century, London dancing master Thomas Wilson set out to choreograph new Scotch reels which expanded the standard reel combination of heys and setting to include figures taken from country dances.  He explained this in The Complete System of English Country Dancing (London, c1815) as follows:

...being well aware, that but the trifling variety could be produced in the dancing of the old Reels...and from the natural consequence of frequent complaints being made by good Ball Room Dancers; that from their sameness they were rendered but a dull alternative, and from a variety of suggestions, made by his friends, frequenters of Balls and Assemblies, to remedy the evil; he has been induced to compose a variety of such new and more difficult ones, as no doubt will answer the expectation of those; who, as well as the author saw ground for complaint...

It is not unusual for a dancing master in the nineteenth century to modestly suggest that his inventions answer some demand from other, nameless dancers, or even his own students, so I would not necessarily conclude that anyone but Wilson himself was bored by the classic reels for three or four.  Wilson claims that his new reels were well-received:

It is a matter of great encouragement to the author, and has been productive of that sensible pride...that the "new Reels"...have so far been found worthy of notice, and have become such general favorites, as to have been danced at most of the public Balls and Assemblies held within the United Kingdom.

He would hardly claim otherwise, of course!

While this particular reel has more complex figures than the classic reel for three or four dancers, it is less technically demanding, since there are only four measures of setting out of the thirty-two of the dance, and no improvisation is required.  This makes this reel particularly well-suited for beginners or dancers whose strength is more in figures than in elaborate footwork.

Scottish Roots?
The idea of a reel for six was not entirely unknown in Scotland in the early nineteenth century.  In The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1823), William Grant Stewart describes the "shemit reel" danced at weddings as follows:

The bridal pair and their retinue then dance a sixsome reel, each putting a piece of silver into the musician's hand.  Those desirous may then succeed, and dance with the bride and the two maids of honour; and are gratified at the commencement and termination of each reel by the usual salutes.

Given the general liveliness of the wedding celebration as described by Stewart, I suspect that the "usual salutes" meant kisses.

Wilson makes no attempt to pretend that his new reels are Scottish in origin, so they are something of an interesting hybrid: an English dancer's attempt to compose dances in the Scottish spirit. 

Setting Steps for Reels: the Lematrást

The Lematrást is another step suitable for setting (footing) in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Scotch reels.  It was described by Scottish dancing master Francis Peacock in Sketches relative to the history and theory, but more especially to the practice of dancing (Aberdeen, 1805).  Peacock explains its Gaelic etymology as "From Lèum, a leap, a spring, and Trasd, across."  It is subtitled "Cross Springs".

Peacock's description of the Lematrást:

These are a series of Sissonnes.  You spring forward with the right foot to the third or fifth position, making a hop upon the left foot; then spring backward with the right, and hop upon it. You do the same with the left foot, and so on, for two, four, or as many bars as the second part of the tune contains. This is a single step; to double it, you do the Springs, forward and backward, four times, before you change the foot.

Setting Steps for Reels: the Minor Kemkóssy

The Minor Kemkóssy is another of the "Setting or Footing" steps for late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Scotch reels described by Scottish dancing master Francis Peacock in Sketches relative to the history and theory, but more especially to the practice of dancing (Aberdeen, 1805).  It is a shorter, faster version of the Single Kemkóssy.

Peacock's description of the Minor Kemkóssy:

This is an easy familiar step, much used by the English in their Country dances.  You have only to place the right foot behind the left, sink and hop upon it, then do the same with the left foot behind the right.

Late Victorian Waltz Variations: Fascination

Fascination is another of the myriad minor waltz variations given by dancing master M. B. Gilbert, in his Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890), who includes the dance "by permission of D. B. Brenneke", presumably the creator.  It is essentially a longer and slightly more complex elaboration on the Gavotte Glide.

Gilbert's description reads:

First Part:--Slide left foot to side (2d), 1, 2; draw right to left, placing weight on right, 3; one measure. Repeat one measure. Slide left to side, 1, 2; draw right to left and slide left to side (chassé), & 3; one measures. Draw right to left and slide left to side, & 1, 3; draw right to left, placing weight on right. 3; one measure.

Second Part:--Waltz four measures. Recommence at first part.

Counterpart for lady.

The dancers are in standard waltz position, the gentleman facing the wall.  The lady dances the same moves on opposite feet.

The reconstruction is not particularly difficult; two slow slides along the line of dance, followed by a faster sequence of slides, followed by waltzing.  The gentleman's steps are given below the lady dances on opposite feet.

First Part (four bars)
1,2       Slide left foot sideways (second position) along line of dance
3          Close right to left
1,2       Slide left foot sideways along line of dance
3          Close right to left

1,2       Slide left foot sideways along line of dance
&3       Close right to left (&), sliding left sideways (3)
&1,2    Close right to left (&), sliding left sideways (1,2)
3          Close right to left, turning a quarter clockwise to place gentleman's back to line of dance

Second Part (four bars)
Waltz two complete turns, underturning at end to leave gentleman facing the wall.

The waltz would be the lively, leaping waltz described in Gilbert, rather than the earlier style common in the mid-nineteenth century.

[George] Washington Lopp, whose La Danse (Paris, 1903) translates much of Gilbert into French, with some additional material added, gives a virtually identical description of the dance, helpfully adding a metronome count of 184, the same count he assigns the regular waltz of the era.  Lopp calls this waltz the Boston (and describes the second part of the Fascination as four measures of Boston), but the description is that of Gilbert's Glide Waltz: the same waltz pattern done entirely gliding rather than with the leaps and cuts of Gilbert's waltz.  This difference is common across Lopp's descriptions of Gilbert's variations.  I would interpret it to mean that in Paris in the early 20th century, the common method of waltzing was to glide rather than leap, and that the Fascination was performed differently than it had been in America in the late 1880s.

La Russe

(Note 6/3/24: I've written a follow-up to this post; the link is at the end.  My reconstruction stands.)

I picked La Russe out some time ago while looking for easy late nineteenth century waltz-time variations.  The name means "the Russian woman", and I recently had the pleasure of teaching it in Moscow to a very talented group of Russian dancers.

No specific choreographer is known for La Russe, but we can date it with unusual precision to just over 130 years ago.  Dancing master M. B. Gilbert, in his Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890), noted that it was "introduced by the American Society of Professors of Dancing, New York, May 1st, 1882," and it turns up in a couple of other American dance manuals of the 1880s.  All the descriptions are quite consistent, though the terminology used varies.

Late 19th Century Jig-Time Dances: The Bronco

Like the Rockaway, the Bronco is another dance listed under the "Miscellaneous" category in M.B. Gilbert's Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) as suitable for either jig time (6/8) or galop time (2/4). 

Please see my earlier post on the Rockaway for a discussion of jig and galop rhythms and a sample of jig music.

Original description

Leap backward from the right to left foot, 1; leap backward upon the right foot, 2; leap backward upon the left, 3; pass right to side and immediately draw left to right (à la Newport), & 4; pass right to side and draw left to right, & 5; leap forward upon the right, 6; pass left to side and draw right to left, & 7; pass left to side and draw right to left, & 8; four measures.  Repeat, commencing as at first. The second time the right foot may move backward at the sixth count, making the turn to the left.  Counterpart for lady.
        ---  Gilbert, Round Dancing, p.165

Reconstruction (8 measures of dance)
(steps for the gentleman; lady dances opposite)

1   2    leap back L, R
3&4    leap back-side-close L-R-L         (waltz-galop natural half-turn)
  &5    side-close R-L
6&7    leap forward-side-close R-L-R    (waltz-galop natural half-turn)
  &8    side-close L-R

Repeat from the beginning (4 measures).

This variation has a very similar construction as that of the Rockaway, with a pair of leaps followed by turning steps.  The "3&4&5" and "6&7&8" sections are each a waltz-galop with a second side-close added; the dancers make a complete turn every four measures.  All steps travel along the line of dance, with quarter turns before and after the first side steps, as described in my previous post on the waltz-galop.

One variation is given: the second time through, the leap on "6" may be backward, resulting in a reverse half-turn instead of a natural half-turn.  The pairs of leaps at the beginning are always done backward by the gentleman, make the dance easier for ladies wearing the elaborate bustles of the era.

I have no other English-language sources for the Bronco, but, like the Rockaway, it reappears in American expatriate dancing master [George] Washington Lopp's La Danse, published in Paris in 1903, under the category "Two Step et Three Step".  The description is a fairly close translation of Gilbert, but Lopp does not mention the variation of a reverse turn on the repeat.

Late 19th Century Jig-Time Dances: The Rockaway

I've recently been looking more closely at some of the "Miscellaneous Dances" found in the back of M. B. Gilbert's 1890 tome, Round Dancing, and noticed that quite a few of the dances there are labeled specifically as for dancing to jig time (6/8) or for either jig or galop (2/4) time.  The Rockaway is one of those given as suited for either time signature.

The earliest source I have for this dance is a New York dance manual, and it seems likely that it was named for the Rockaway Peninsula, a part of Long Island which was a popular seaside resort area in the nineteenth century.  The description in Gilbert is considerably clearer and is the basis for this reconstruction.

May 2012 Gig Calendar

I started out May in the wonderful city of Moscow, teaching nineteenth century dance at Anno Domini, and have a burst of events in the first half of the month before things quiet down substantially.  I may add a few more events later this month, but for now, here's the calendar:

Sunday, May 6th ~ New York City
Regency Dance Workshop
Beginner-friendly lesson 2:00-4:00pm

Sunday, May 6th ~ New York City
Regency Waltz Workshop
4:00-5:00pm

Sunday, May 6th ~ New York City
Cross-Step Waltz "Mixmaster" Workshop
4:00-5:00pm

Tuesday, May 8th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Jane Austen Era Dancing
Beginner-friendly lesson 8:15-9:30pm.  No costume needed.

Saturday, May 12th ~ New Haven, Connecticut
Sailing Masters Regency Ball
Formal costumed ball of the early 19th century.

Tuesday, May 22nd ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy
7:30-11:00pm.  DJing blues for the second set. 

Friday, May 25th - Sunday, May 27th ~ Baltimore, Maryland
Private event

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am also available for private lessons in Connecticut (New Haven or Middletown) generally, and occasionally in New York City and Boston.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

New Haven & Middletown, Connecticut -- generally available
New York & Boston -- by appointment only

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming in June
Open beginner-level dance lessons in New Haven
Regular monthly waltz & Regency-era lessons in New York City
Regency dancing in Connecticut
...and more!