(This is the second post in a mini-series covering Regency-era step-sequences for the quadrille figure chassé-croisé. See the first post for a general introduction to the figure.)
My second sequence for chassé-croisé actually comes from a French source, the second edition of Principes et Notions Élémentaires sur l’Art de la Danse Pour la Ville (Paris, 1811) by J. H. Gourdoux. The same sequence reappears in his later manual, De l’Art de la Danse (Paris, 1823). It is similar to the Strathy sequence described in my previous post, but the differences are quite intriguing.
I won't cover steps in this post, since I just summarized them in the previous one and no additional ones are required for Gourdoux's sequence.
Gentlemen
1b Chassé sideways to the right, passing behind partner
1b Jeté left before, assemblé right before
1b Sissone right behind, assemblé right before
1b Sissone left behind, assemblé left before
1b Chassé sideways to the left, passing behind partner
1b Jeté right before, assemblé left before
1b Sissone left behind, assemblé left before
1b Sissone right behind, assemblé right before
Rhythm pattern:
and-ONE-and-TWO, THREE FOUR
ONE TWO, THREE FOUR
and-ONE-and-TWO, THREE FOUR
ONE TWO, THREE FOUR
This differs from the Strathy sequence in two major ways. First, the rightward and leftward travel sequences are the same basic chassé-jeté-assemblé. More interestingly, the sissone-assemblé sequences are not the same. Gourdoux is quite clear that on the first sissone, one takes the right foot which is in front and brings it behind to make the sissone. This is somewhat unusual. Gourdoux does not actually spell out the second half of the sequence; he just says to do the same steps to the left. That necessitates making the same odd movement of the leading (left) foot in the first sissone. That means that the second sissone-assemblé sequence is the mirror of the first; in Strathy the two sissone-assemblé sequences are identical.
Ladies
1b Sissone left behind, glissade dessous left
1b Glissade dessous left, assemblé left behind
1b Sissone left behind, assemblé left before
1b Sissone right behind, assemblé right before
1b Chassé sideways to the right, passing in front of partner
1b Jeté left before, assemblé right before
1b Sissone left behind, assemblé left before
1b Sissone right behind, assemblé right before
Rhythm pattern:
ONE and-TWO, and-THREE FOUR
ONE TWO, THREE FOUR
and-ONE-and-TWO, THREE FOUR
ONE TWO, THREE FOUR
As if things weren't already strange enough, Gourdoux's sequence for the ladies is not just the gentlemen's sequence with the order of travel reversed. The second (rightward) traveling sequence is the same, but the first (leftward) one is completely different, starting with a sissone in place before a pair of glissades and an assemblé. Even more bizarrely, the two sissone-assemblé sequences are the same (and do not require odd relocations of the active foot), which means that on the first one the gentlemen and ladies mirror each other and on the second they do not. Since the sissone-assemblé is danced in place, this doesn't make much difference in practice, but it's quite odd in the context of quadrille step-sequences.
These issues are weird enough that there's some temptation to "fix" the gentlemen's sequence by making the second half identical to the ladies' first half and eliminating the oddities in the gentlemen's sissone-assemblé sequences:
Gentlemen (revised to match ladies)
1b Chassé sideways to the right, passing behind partner
1b Jeté left before, assemblé right before
1b Sissone left behind, assemblé left before
1b Sissone right behind, assemblé right before
1b Sissone left behind, glissade dessous left
1b Glissade dessous left, assemblé left behind
1b Sissone left behind, assemblé left before
1b Sissone right behind, assemblé right before
This would make a perfectly reasonable step-sequence for the era, but it's not the one given -- twice! -- by Gourdoux. Whether to make such a change depends on how comfortable one is with exploring the "infinite variety" of combinations that Gourdoux and other period dancing masters acknowledge may be formed.
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