Capering & Kickery

March 2013 Gig Calendar

March is going to be a very quiet month for me.  I'm clearing my calendar of most outside gigs for the last couple of weeks of the month to work on some writing and reviewing projects.

I tend to add DJ gigs to my schedule at the relative last minute, so check back to see when those appear!

Sunday, March 3rd ~ New York City
Regency Dance Workshop (Facebook event page)
Beginner-friendly lesson 3:00-5:00pm

Tuesday, March 5th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Civil War Era Dancing (Facebook event page)
Beginner-friendly lesson 8:15-9:30pm.  No costume needed.

Tuesday, March 12th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Jane Austen Era Dancing (Facebook event page)
Beginner-friendly lesson 8:15-9:30pm.  No costume needed.

Friday-Saturday, March 15th-16th
Private event

Sunday, March 17th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
A Regency Tea Dance (Facebook event page)
2:00-5:00pm.  Costumes encouraged!

Tuesday, March 19th ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy  (Facebook event page)
7:30-11:00pm.  DJing blues from 9:45-11:00.

Sunday, March 24th ~ New Haven, Connecticut
Swing & Blues Practicum for Yale Swing & Blues (Facebook group)
8:00-11:00pm  DJing blues from 9:30-11:00.

Wednesday/Friday/Saturday, March 27-29-30 ~ New York City
Private event

Sunday, March 31st ~ New Haven, Connecticut
Swing & Blues Practicum for Yale Swing & Blues (Facebook group)
8:00-11:00pm  DJing blues from 9:30-11:00.

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I am available for private lessons in Connecticut or on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

New Haven & Middletown, Connecticut: March 4-15, 21-26, 31
Boston: March 19-20
New York City: 27-30

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Coming in April:
NEFFA, a Regency weekend, DJing blues in three different cities, and a small Victorian ball!

Chassé-Croisé Sequences for Regency-Era Quadrilles (3 of 3)

(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.

Chassé-Croisé Sequences for Regency-Era Quadrilles (2 of 3)

(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.

Chassé-Croisé Sequences for Regency-Era Quadrilles (1 of 3)

By far the most common sequence variations to be found in quadrille manuals of the early nineteenth century are those for setting, forward and back, chassez-dechassez, and crossing over.  But a few manuals give sequences for more elaborate figures such as chassé-croisé, in which two dancers, side by side, change places and back.  There are quite a few ways to perform the figure, but the most common is probably that danced with one's partner in eight bars as follows:

2b    Change places, gentlemen passing behind ladies
2b    Set
2b    Change back, gentlemen again passing behind ladies
2b    Set

This can be performed just by two couples (heads or sides) or by all four at once, as in the classic Finale figure of the first set of French quadrilles. 

Hollywood Line Hustle

It's been quite some time since I did any disco line dances, but here's one for the folks who love these session at the Dance Flurry.  Sadly, I'm not teaching there this year, but you can do this one on your own!

Unusually for one of these dances, I actually have it in two different sources: The Complete Book on Disco and Ballroom Dancing (1979) by Ann T. Kilbride and A. Algoso, and The Complete Guide to Disco Dancing (1978) by Karen Lustgarten.  The sequence is almost exactly the same in both books.  Kilbride and Algoso mention alternate names: the L.A. Line Dance or L.A. Line Hustle and note that it was popular in a particular area of the country, presumably southern Califoria.  Lustgarten calls it "one of the most popular line dances" and suggests disco hits to dance it to: Boz Skaggs' "Lowdown" for a slow version, and Vickie Sue Robinson's "Turn The Beat Around" for a faster one.

Alternating racket waltz patterns

• Era: 1880s into very early 1900s

The last of the racket waltz patterns appears only in Allen Dodworth's Dancing and its Relation to Education and Social Life (New York, 1885, reprinted 1900) and is thus saddled with his prosaic yet unwieldy title, "Alternating One Slide and Three Slide to Waltz."  That's more a description of the technique a name, but it's what we've got.

Unlike "Alternating the One Slide and Three Slide to Galop," more usually known simply as the racket, the waltz-time version does not just combine the two existing racket waltzes (one-slide and two-slide) in a short/short/long short/short/long pattern.  That works in waltz time since both the "short" and "long" patterns take only one measure apiece.  Instead, this racket actually uses a three-slide racket, as in galop time, stretched in an irregular way from four beats to six, similarly to how the one-slide racket in galop is stretched from two beats to three in waltz time...but more complicated.

Run, run...a redowa!

To be perfectly specific, that's a polka redowa, a polka step in slow waltz time.  This variation for it, called The Run, was, as far as I can tell, unique to the fifth edition (1892) of  William B. De Garmo's The Dance of Society.  

The sequence is simplicity itself:

1. In normal closed position, dance polka redowa, turning (six measures)
2. Release hands and open up into "military" position, side by side (as described and shown here).
3. Run forward six steps (two measures)
4. Join hands again to repeat from the start

De Garmo made a point of noting that the polka redowa should be danced in a gliding style as in his description of the polka step, found earlier in the book: 

"...hop or spring on right foot and almost simultaneously glide left foot directly sidewise to 2d position -- count one; draw right foot to 1st position -- two; glide left foot again to 2d position -- three..."

He also noted in the polka description that the hop "may be so modified as to be nearly imperceptible," provided the dancers take care not to lose the elasticity of the knee.  

In his description of The Run, he reiterated that it should be danced with "the three steps being glided, the glides a little longer than usual" and that the running steps should be "with spirit."