Continuing to work my way through late nineteenth-century jig-time (6/8-time) dances, here's one attributed to New York dancing master C. H. Rivers (left) but found not in Rivers' own dance manual, but in the "Miscellaneous Dances" section at the back of M. B. Gilbert's 1890 tome, Round Dancing, as well as in American expatriate Washington Lopp's 1903 French translation and expansion of Gilbert, La Danse.
"Le rêve" is French for "dream." Gilbert leaves off the circumflex for "Le Reve", but Lopp, as would be expected for someone writing in French, includes it. I have no information about the source of the name. Possibly it was named after a particular piece of music, or the name might simply be a romantic fancy. Gilbert states that dance was adopted by the American Society of professors of Dancing, New York, on September 4th, 1889, which dating explains its absence from Rivers' own work, published in Brooklyn around 1885.
Gilbert lists Le Rêve as a dance for 6/8 time, with metronome 120. Lopp specifically notes that it is for either 6/8 or 2/4. For a discussion of these two times and the different accenting of the music in each, as well as a sample of jig music, please see my earlier post on the Rockaway.
Gilbert's description of Le Rêve is straightforward, with directions given for the gentleman and the lady dancing the same steps on the opposite foot:
Three slides to the side, commencing with the left foot, 1, & 2, & 3; draw right to left, 4; point left to side (2d), 5; draw left to right (3d or 5th behind raised), 6; leap to side (2d), and at the same time bring right to left (3d or 5th behind raised), 7; hop on left and bring right in front of left (3d), 8; four measures. Repeat, commencing with right foot.
The turn is made at the seventh count, and by pivoting on the ball of the foot at the eighth count.
The dancers begin in standard waltz position, with the gentleman facing the wall and the lady the center of the room. The reconstruction:
1&2&3 4 Slide-close-side-close-side, close (left-right-left-right-left, right; sliding sideways along line of dance)
5 Point left foor to side (2nd position)
6 Bring left foot up behind right (3rd or 5th position raised)
7 Leap onto left, making a half-turn and bringing the right up behind left (3rd or 5th raised)
8 Hop on left and bring right in front of left (3rd raised)
Repeat all four measures "over elbows", gentleman beginning with the right foot and lady with the left, for eight measures total. Note that there is no indication of a hop on counts five and six. The lady must shorten her step on count seven so that the gentleman may leap around her. The reverse applies on the repeat.
The galop sequence in the first two bars (four counts) is interesting when accented in jig-time. Those four counts will be accented as follows:
* * * * * *
1-&-a-2-&-a 3-&-a-4-&-a
Experienced dancers will do this instinctively when presented with 6/8 music.
There is no indication of direction of turn. While a natural (right) turn may be assumed, there is no physical reason Le Rêve cannot be varied by using reverse (left) turns as well, as was common in other dances of the late nineteenth century.
Lopp specifies third position on counts six and eight and fifth position on count seven, noting on the latter that the foot is "légèrement levé" ("gently raised"). He also note that the turn must be done "sur la plante des pieds", meaning on the ball of the foot. Otherwise, his description is essentially the same, despite conflating the second and third beats of the sequence, creating the interesting spectacle of one measure with three counts and two measures with two counts in a dance he describes as four meaasures of two counts each. Since Lopp is otherwise completely consistent with Gilbert's description and musically it makes no sense as written, I feel confident in calling this an error on his part.
A practical note to dancers: because Le Rêve stops traveling on the third measure, one should be careful about performing it in a crowded ballroom, particularly during a galop, when many dancers will be moving at high speed along line of dance. Moving toward the center of the room beforehand will help avoid being crashed into or creating a "traffic jam".
Previous posts on jig-time dances: the Rockaway and the Bronco.
Special thanks to Serge Mailloux for translation assistance!
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