(This is the third and final post in a mini-series covering Regency-era step-sequences for the quadrille figure chassé-croisé. Previous posts are here (with a general introduction) and here.)
My third and (so far) final sequence for an eight-bar chassé-croisé comes from Elements and Principles of the Art of Dancing, a translation of J. H. Gourdoux published by Victor Guillou in Philadelphia in 1817. The translation, presumably of the 1811 Principes et Notions Élémentaires sur l’Art de la Danse Pour la Ville, is inconsistent in how closely it hews to Gourdoux's original. This step sequence for chassé-croisé does not appear in the 1811 manual at all and may have originated with Guillou himself.
Even more than Gourdoux's own sequence, this one features different footwork for the gentlemen and the ladies.
Gentlemen
1b Chassé sideways to the right, passing behind partner
1b Jeté left before, assemblé right before
1b Echappé, right foot raised in fourth in front, grand coupé, right foot raised in fifth behind
1b Jeté right before, assemblé left before
1b Chassé sideways to the left, passing behind partner
1b Jeté right before, assemblé left before
1b Echappé, left foot raised in fourth in front, grand coupé, left foot raised in fifth behind
1b Jeté left before, assemblé right before
Rhythm pattern:
and-ONE-and-TWO, THREE FOUR
and-ONE and-TWO, THREE FOUR
and-ONE-and-TWO, THREE FOUR
and-ONE and-TWO, THREE FOUR
As in Strathy's and Gourdoux's sequences, the gentlemen open with a sideways chassé-jeté-assemblé sequence to travel to the right behind their partners. As in Gourdoux's, they use the same sequence for the leftward travel. The setting segment in between, however, is completely different from the sissone-assemblé sequences found in the other two manuals, consisting of an unusual echappé-grand coupé followed by the standard jeté-assemblé. I discuss the echappé-grand coupé pairing in my step notes below. The two segments mirror each other rather than being identical.
Ladies
1b Glissade dessous (closing behind) left, glissade dessus (closing in front) left
1b Glissade dessous (closing behind) left, jeté left behind
1b Glissade dessous (closing behind) right, jeté right behind
1b Glissade dessous (closing behind) left, jeté left behind
1b Glissade dessus (closing in front) right, glissade dessous (closing behind) right
1b Jeté right behind, assemblé left behind
1b Glissade dessous (closing behind) right, jeté right behind
1b Glissade dessous (closing behind) left, assemblé left behind
Rhythm pattern:
and-ONE and-TWO, and-THREE FOUR
and-ONE TWO, and-THREE FOUR
and-ONE and-TWO, THREE FOUR
and-ONE TWO, and-THREE FOUR
The ladies' sequence bears not the slightest resemblance to the gentleman's. To the left, the ladies do three glissades (closing alternately behind, in front, and behind) and a jeté behind to pass in front of their partners. To the right, two glissades (closing in front and behind) followed by jeté-assemblé, both behind. The setting segments in between are identical, rather than the mirror sequences of the gentlemen, and actually move back and forth with a glissade-jeté-glissade-assemblé which, as in Strathy's sequence, is modified for the mid-sequence setting into glissade-jeté-glissade-jeté to accommodate the following glissade. Again, the jeté and assemblé steps bring the free foot behind.
I find the combination of the gentlemen dancing in place on the setting sequences while the ladies slide back and forth to be visually somewhat odd. The whole thing is actually pretty weird as Regency step-sequences go. Either the gentlemen's sequence or the ladies' sequence would work perfectly well for both sexes (reversing the direction of travel as required), but the combination of the two and their total lack of resemblance is unusual, almost like two sequences accidentally got merged together.
Assuming no such printing accident, the combination does suggest to me that, at least in Philadelphia, having the ladies and gentlemen doing radically different footwork on a chassé-croisé was not a problem. For theatrical performance, one would probably want to standardize somewhat, but for social dancing, one could conceivably mix and match the Strathy, Gourdoux, and Guillou sequences at will without really violating period aesthetic standards.
Steps
All but two of the steps needed were described in the first post in this series, so I will not repeat them here. The remaining two are the echappé and the grand coupé, which appear as a pair in the gentlemen's sequence.
Echappé: From third, hop gently on the rear foot, extending the front foot forward to a raised fourth position, weight remaining on the rear foot. This is done on the upbeat of the measure. There are other ways to perform the echappé, but this is the one required for Guillou's step-sequence.
Grand coupé: Guillou's use of the term "coupé" is somewhat peculiar, but to reconstruct his step-sequence, it's necessary to use the step he describes. In the step-sequence, it is performed from a raised-in-front fourth position immediately following the echappé. The front foot is drawn back to a raised fifth in front (toe pointed down), extended to second position then, hopping lightly on the rear foot, brought behind to a raised fifth position, toe pointed down.
It's not really clear whether Guillou would have brought the free foot back to a raised fifth in front to start the grand coupé, but moving from a raised fourth in front to second then to a raised fifth behind seems like it would end up as more of a rond de jambe than the "out-in" motion Guillou seems to have had in mind.
Bringing the front foot back to fifth raised would give the following sequence for the two steps:
and Echappé (hop, ending in fourth raised in front)
1 Close free foot to a raised fifth in front
and Hop, extending free foot to second
2 Complete grand coupé by landing with free foot raised in fifth behind
I can't be completely sure that this is what Guillou had in mind, but it fits the descriptions he gives and is at least physically possible and reasonably attractive.
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