The Bolero, or Dodworth Schottisch, is a real oddity in mid-nineteenth century American dance. For starters, it is neither a Bolero in the sense of the Spanish dance nor, technically, a schottische in either music or dance pattern. It's a weird little schottische-mazurka mashup created by Allen Dodworth himself, and I can't imagine it was ever danced outside his own dance studio. Actually, I'm not sure it was ever danced, period, since some aspects of the dance seem rather poorly thought out. But I find it oddly intriguing and no stranger than the five-step waltz, which did catch on to some extent. It's an interesting example of early creativity in developing new couple dances before the mid-nineteenth century repertoire achieved some degree of standardization.
The sheet music for the Bolero, "Dodworth's New Schottisch", was published in New York in 1850. Covers varied; along with the one pictured at left (click to enlarge), courtesy of the 19th-Century American Sheet Music collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, there is one without the fancy scrollwork border in the Library of Congress's Music for the Nation collection, and I have a copy of one other with a different border printed in red. The printing is exactly the same in each other than the cover decoration or lack of it.
(Edited 6/12/14 to add: There is another copy with a green scrollwork border at the Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection at Johns Hopkins.)
At the back of the sheet music are brief dance instructions for the Bolero and a charming disclaimer from Dodworth:
I am perfectly aware of the almost imposibility, of describing a Dance, in such a manner as to be generally understood, and if I have been succesful in this, I shall feel that I have accomplished a different task. I might perhaps, by the use of technical terms, have made myself more intelligible to the professional reader; but in using those terms I should have rendere the descrption perfectly uninteligible to the Public, which is exactly contrary to my wishes in the case. With this apology, I throw myself upon the indulgence of the reader.
Thirty-five years later, a much more confident Dodworth would go on to publish one of the major works of nineteenth-century American dance, Dancing and its relations to education and social life (New York, 1885; link is to the 1900 edition). But in 1850, Dodworth was fairly early in his career as a dance teacher and author. It is possible that this is the first set of dance instructions he ever published. I have not come across any earlier ones.
The music is in 3/4 time, confusing labeled both "Slow Polonaise Time" and "Allegretto". Obviously this is unlike a schottische, a duple-time dance which is generally written in 4/4 or 2/4. The dance is counted in six beats, which creates some confusion in correlating music in dance; more on this below.
Here is my reconstruction of the Bolero, with the gentleman's steps given. The lady dances opposite.
1 Slide left foot along line of dance
2 Cut with the right foot, clicking the heels in the air (coup de talon) and landing on the right foot
3 Leap onto the left foot
4 Hop on the left foot (tuck the right foot close in a raised third or fifth)
5 Leap onto the right foot
6 Hop on the right foot (tuck the left foot close)
Note that the sequence always starts on the same foot. When turning, half-turns are made on beats four and six for one complete turn in six counts. It is easy to turn in reverse.
This is essentially a polka redowa (slide-cut-leap) with a heel-click ornament, similar to the later York, merged with the classic sauteuse waltz (leap-hop, leap-hop) of the early schottische. The similarity to the Sarocco five-step, which combines the "mazurka" step (slide-cut-hop) and the schottische sauteuse (leap-top) is very obvious, though I've no idea whether Dodworth and Sarocco were familiar with each other's work or whether this was simply a matter of applying similar techniques to construct a new dance. Given that Dodworth claimed that he only introduced the schottiche to his students in 1849 and the polka mazurka in 1850, this was a pretty fast choreographic response!
Dodworth also suggests that, as in the polka, the Bolero can be done as a pursuit, promenade, or balance. The promenade works reasonably well if the dancers travel holding only inside hands. The partners face each other for the first three counts as they travel along line of dance. On the hop on the fourth beat, they turn partly away from each other -- this is where they really must tuck the free foot neatly into position, or they will kick each other with the inside foot -- and perform the second leap (count five) along the line of dance, angled almost back to back, before turning to face each other again with the final hop to repeat the sequence. The dancers must be careful not to be too far apart or the back-to-back angle on count five will be awkward.
The pursuit and balance are a little more problematic because the Bolero, like the Cellarius five-step, is asymmetrical: it neither splits neatly into two half-turns with mirrored footwork, like the polka, nor does it have a repeat on the second foot, like the polka mazurka or Sarocco five-step. There are two steps of (for the gentleman) leftward motion and only one of right, and this never changes.
In the pursuit, this means that the couple will not zig-zag back and forth evenly across the line of dance, as in other couple dances with this set of variations, but will drift slowly toward the center (if the gentleman is moving forward) or the wall (if the gentleman is moving backward). This can be compensated for most gracefully by cheating a little bit on the "pursuit" element: take the slide-cut/click moving sideways along line of dance then do the two leap-hops as a proper pursuit with one partner moving forward and the other backing. To back the lady up, turn one quarter counter-clockwise on the first leap. To back the gentleman, turn one quarter clockwise. Note that it is very easy to alternate backing the lady and gentleman this way.
One could also do the first two counts at a diagonal along the line of dance with a half-turn on three and take the leap on five on the same diagonal relative to the room (though the dancers will have switched places). Then on the repeat dance on the other diagonal along line of dance, with a half-turn on five to complete the turn. I don't think this is an improvement.
For the balance, there is a similar problem; if the dancers move "in to the center/out to the wall", there is a noticeable drift toward the center, assuming the gentleman is facing line of dance. Going along/against line of dance, one of the oldest schottische styles, mostly resolves this, though there is still more "along" motion, which imbalances the balance, and a mildly anti-social element in briefly moving against line of dance.
Finally, the music question: Dodworth states that there are "six motions, or times, in each bar, making one revolution, as in the waltz." I don't know anyone -- including Dodworth -- who either notated the nineteenth-century valse à trois temps in 6/4 or 6/8 time or thought it should be danced with a full rotation in one bar of 3/4 or 3/8 time. The waltz uses six beats of music, but those six beats make two measures. So I think it most likely that Dodworth really meant that the six motions of the Bolero take six beats of music, or two bars of his 3/4 time "New Schottisch", than that he meant the dance to be counted 1&2&3& in 3/4 time. No matter how "slow polonaise" the supposedly allegretto music is played, the accenting just feels wrong.
I've never come across a recording of the "New Schottisch"/Bolero, and don't really expect to unless someone commissions one a-purpose for the dance, but it actually works quite nicely to polonaise or waltz music. I'm mildly sorry the Bolero never became part of the general dance repertoire of the nineteenth century.
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