Known variously as the three-slide galop, three step galop, galop à trois pas, or galop à trois temps, this late-nineteenth-century variation is simply the standard galop step migrated into waltz time. I've previously discussed the galop in 2/4 time in detail; the three-slide version is the same kind of series of slides and "chasing" steps:
1b Slide-close-slide-close-slide = 1 & 2 & 3
2b Slide-close-slide-close-slide = 1 & 2 & 3
This could also be described as slide-chassé-chassé, with each chassé being a "close-slide".
As is standard for galop, the first half is performed leading with the first foot (gentleman's left, lady's right) with the second foot then closing behind in order to again slide with the first foot. The second half is then performed by sliding with the second foot and closing with the first. As with the 2/4-time galop, no hop is mentioned.
The three-slide galop is described in several major dance manuals at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century:
William De Garmo's The Dance of Society (New York, 1875), my earliest source, calls it Le Galop à Trois Pas or Three-Slide Galop, uses the slide-chassé-chassé terminology, and gives the standard options of direction and turn:
This dance is the same as the Galop, with an extra chassé; that is, glide left foot to 2d position (one); chassé (chase) the left foot with the right (two), as described in the Galop, and repeat the two (the right foot chasing the left again), in all three--one measure. Repeated with the other foot--another measure; and so on continuously, forward, backward, to the right and reverse.
De Garmo further notes that it is danced to polka mazurka music and adds a comment about nomenclature:
This dance has been injudiciously called the "Trois Temps." I say injudiciously, for the reason that the waltz is known as the "Trois Temps."
Allen Dodworth's Dancing (New York, 1885; enlarged edition 1900) calls it the "Trois Temps (Three Time)" in his discussion of galop variants and helpfully illustrates the step, as shown below (click the image to enlarge):
M.B. Gilbert's Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) lists the dance in the redowa and mazurka section and calls it the Galop à Trois Pas, though Gilbert covers all the bases, name-wise, by adding a footnote calling it the "Three Step Galop, also called Three Slide Galop". He further hedges his bets on the name by cross-listing it under galop as the "Three Step Galop", with alternate titles given in a footnote: "Le Galop a Trois Temps, also called Three Slide Galop". While Gilbert gives no specific tempo for the three-slide galop, for redowa and mazurka in general he appears to favor 144 beats per minute, much faster than Dodworth. He does not mention any turn, but since his 2/4-time galop includes the same options as the polka (forward, backward, natural turn, reverse turn), the same options are implicitly available in the three-slide galop.
[George] Washington Lopp's La Danse (Paris, 1903), a translation and expansion of Gilbert's book, includes it in the mazurka section and calls it the Galop à Trois Temps. He gives a metronome of 144 beats per minute and no indication as to direction or turning, though once again the usual options may be assumed from the larger context of the full work.
While the three-slide galop is performed in waltz time, it seems strongly implied by all four authors that it is meant to be danced to music with a particularly marked accent: De Garmo specified polka mazurka music while Gilbert lists it under redowa and mazurka and Lopp under mazurka. Dodworth gives a much slower tempo than Gilbert and Lopp, but his metronome marking (the system is explained earlier in his manual) suggests that this matches the speed he gives for the polka mazurka at 112 beats per minute. His diagram suggests an ever-so-slight delay before each close of foot. This will tend to vanish entirely at high speed.
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Note that the galop à trois pas is an entirely different step-sequence from the waltz-galop. The galop à trois pas is the galop step done in waltz time. The waltz-galop is the late nineteenth century waltz step done in galop time. Completely different!
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