I get a lot of requests to tell people what dance figures to do to a particular piece of Regency-era country dance music. The correct answer is "any historical figures that you like", since dance figures and tunes were mix-and-match during this period rather than locked together into tune-figure pairings with specific names. So it's rare for me to do a through dissection of any particular set of figures.
But most people nowadays don't want to (or can't) call their own figures, and even people who don't want to try for that level of historical accuracy often do want to do figures in historical rather than modern style. So I'm going to do a little series of posts doing historical reconstructions of the figures set to various tunes, which can then be used for that tune or any other tune of suitable length.
First up: the figures that appeared in the 1770s with the tune "Mutual Love".
The phrasing of that last sentence was very deliberate. Nowadays, people see a tune with figures under it and label the figures as a dance with the name of that tune. That modern mindset is difficult to overcome, even when confronted with the number of times that the same figures appear with different tunes (as in the books of tunes composed by Mr. Gray) or that different figures appear with the same tune. The figures appearing under "Mutual Love" in
Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Fashionable Country Dances. Vol. 4 (London, c1780) are no exception to this. They also appear, in that same book and three others, matched with the tune "The Ton", and in later manuals matched with the tune "The Morning Rout". There may be other appearances as well, but my interest in making a visual survey of thousands of dance figures looking for matches is...rather limited.
(A quick aside: a review of the many meanings of the term "figure" might be helpful in reading this post.)
Here's a little bibliography of known tune books where this combination appears, courtesy of Robert Keller's Dance Figures Index, English Country Dances 1651-1827:
- with "The Ton" in Bride's Favorite Collection of Two Hundred Select Country Dances (c1775)
- with "Mutual Love" in [Thompson's] Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1777
- with "The Ton" in [Thompson's] Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1778
- with both "Mutual Love" and "The Ton" in Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Fashionable Country Dances. Vol. 4 (c1780)
- with "The Ton" in Longman and Broderip's Compleat Collection of 200 Favorite Country Dances (c1781)
- with "The Morning Rout" in [Thompson's] Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1787
- with "The Morning Rout" in Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Fashionable Country Dances. Vol. 5 (c1788)
The number of publications shown is somewhat illusory. Thompson's Compleat Collections were omnibus editions, with minor changes and additions, of several previous years' editions of Twenty-Four Country Dances. So the 1780 publication merely collects the 1777 and 1778 ones and that of 1788 collects the 1787 one. Be aware also that Bride's was published by the Longman & Broderip house under its earlier incarnation as Longman, Lukey, and Broderip.
As can be seen above, "Mutual Love" is probably not even the first tune these figures were matched to; they appear earlier and more often with "The Ton". So is the name of "the dance" actually "The Ton"? No. Is it "Mutual Love"? No. Is it "The Morning Rout"? No. A set of figures like this is not "a dance" in the modern sense of a piece of choreography thoughtfully matched to a different tune and given a specific name. It's just a set of figures that any competent dancer of the era could have composed on the fly. Those names belong to the pieces of music, which is what companies like Longman & Broderip were in the business of publishing. The figures are an afterthought.
Having now driven that point into the ground, let's take a look at these nameless figures. Here's the original language, taken from the c1780 Thompon's Compleat Collection seen above:
1st Man lead the 2nd round the 1st and 2nd Ladies then turn both hands with their partners. Ladies do the same. hands across 4 and back again. lead thro’ the 3rd Cu. and cast up lead thro’ the 2nd and cast off
The descriptions in other sources are essentially the same, with some using "Gent" instead of "Man" and minor discrepancies in punctuation and abbreviations. I've included images from four publications of these figures at the bottom of this post, if you want to compare them.
The figures are for a thirty-two-bar triple minor dance, though the third couple has nothing to do. I'm assuming a general knowledge of basic country dance figures and historical progression, but if anything is not clear, leave a comment with your question and I will explain in more detail.
Reconstruction of the figures
4b First two gentlemen join near hands and travel clockwise around the first two ladies
4b First two couples turn by both hands (clockwise)
4b First two ladies join near hands and travel counter-clockwise around the first two gentlemen
4b First two couples turn by both hands (clockwise)
8b First two couples right hands across/left hands back
8b Active couple lead through the bottom and top couples to end progressed
Performance notes
1. The first sixteen bars, with the gentlemen going round the ladies, the turns, the ladies going round the gentlemen, and the second set of turns, are an unusual variation on the "three lead round" figure which is contemporary to this version but seems to have lasted much longer in country dancing. This version is actually more difficult, since even though it's two leading round two, they have to manage it in only four bars of music instead of eight in order to leave time for the turns. The circling dancers need to step lively!
2. While it is not absolutely necessary or indicated in the instructions, I would recommend using the forward-and-back for the waiting (being-circled) dancers as described by Wilson in 1811 so as to give the traveling dancers the ability to slightly shorten their travel path.
3. The ladies leading round have a change of direction of travel when going from leading round into the partner turns. Being careful to reduce momentum on the fourth measure while beginning to curl around to the left will help with this.
4. Right hands across/left hands back is the modern figure "right-hand star" or quadrille moulinet figure, with diagonally opposite dancers taking right hands in cross formation and circling round, then turning and giving left hands to circle back to place.
5. The final figure is a yet another Regency figure eight, modified by starting from the top position rather than the bottom one. The full break down is: active dancers lead through the third couple (while the second couple moves up to top position), loop around to the center position, lead through the second couple (now at the top), and loop back down to the center position to end progressed and ready to restart the dance. The active dancers need to stretch their steps a bit for the first long lead through.
6. While the dance instructions describe this move as leading through and casting off, the entire figure is done as one long, looping figure with the dancers always moving straight forward, taking near hands on the lead-through bits. When casting off is part of a figure like this, it is not done with the turning (casting) step followed by sideways motion that is common for the latter half of the eighteenth century and the early decades of the nineteenth.. This is shown consistently in diagrams from Dukes (1752) and A.D. (1764) all the way to Wilson in the early 1800s, who calls this move "lead through bottom and top", neatly removing any possible confusion about whether to use a casting off step-sequence and path.
Steps
A full description of all the step options for country dancing is out of the scope of this post, but here are some simple step sequences for these figures.
Leading round and turning: for the two leading round, seven chassé, step, assemblé. (Note that because these figures are from the 1770s I would use a step to third or fifth position rather than a jeté in the concluding bar.) For the two dancers being circled, one chassé, step, assemblé in each direction to go forward and back, then joining the circling dancers to turn with three chassé, step, assemblé. Having the two dancers going round and turning as one long extended move using seven chassé, step, assemblé rather than three chassé, step, assemblé repeated makes it easier to cover the distance needed and to disguise any slight failure to get completely around by doing the turn a little more quickly.
Right hands across/left hands back: three chassé, step, assemblé each direction.
Lead through bottom and top: seven chassé, step, assemblé.
Should these figures be danced at your event?
As can be noted by the publication history above, this particular combination turns up between 1775 and 1788, though I can't definitively rule out other uses later (or earlier). While some figures were common throughout the "extended" Regency era from the 1770s all the way to the 1820s, the first sixteen bars of this sequence (two gents lead round two ladies, etc.) are so unusual that I would consider them a marker for a dance of the 1770s or 1780s, and not something stylish dancers would still be doing in the 1810s. The long lead through from the top to the bottom in the final figure is also on the old-fashioned side for the Regency era (when the lead-through would have started from the second position). So I wouldn't use this set of figures for an event defined as Regency in the strictest sense (1810-1820).
Jane Austen was born in 1775, so technically this combination appears within her lifetime, but I doubt she was doing much social dancing in infancy. Her dancing days were more in the 1790s and early 1800s. I'd consider this figure mildly old-fashioned for "dancing like Jane Austen" though not so much as to be worth worrying about unless one is being really obsessive.
As a practical matter, I probably wouldn't use this sequence anyway, because even though it is historically accurate, I don't really like it when the third couple in the minor set has nothing at all to do. Dancers accustomed to the more egalitarian figures of modern English country dancing will like it even less than I do.
Modern versions
There are at least two modern adaptations extant. The more common one appeared in The Apted Book of Country Dances, published in the 1960s by W. S. Porter, Arthur Heffer, and Marjorie Heffer. The other is by Reg Battle and appears in the notes to the CD The Pride & Prejudice Collection Volume II. Both adaptations turn the dance into a duple minor one by modifying the final figure but otherwise present no issues worth further lengthening this post to discuss. If you are interested in seeing these adaptations, The Apted Book may be purchased from The Country Dance and Song Society in the USA, and The Pride & Prejudice Collection Volume II and its accompanying dance notes may be had from Fain Music in England either by mail or by download.
Music
The tune "Mutual Love" is a pleasant but not particularly distinguished 4/4-time reel with two strains played AABB for these figures. The only recording I am aware of is a gently-paced (80 beats per minute) one on The Pride & Prejudice Collection Volume II, where it is unfortunately played only seven times through, which is one time too many for a three-couple set using historical progression and much too few for any larger set. This can be fixed with music editing software. "The Ton" and "The Morning Rout" are both in 2/4 time. I am not aware of any recordings of either tune.
For musicians: if working from the original images below is too painful, Fain Music has also published modern-style sheet music for "Mutual Love", which may be inexpensively downloaded here. "Mutual Love" is listed in The Barnes Book of English Country Dance Tunes, but, not having that book in front of me, I don't know whether or not it's actually the tune "Mutual Love". The writers of The Apted Book, possibly as unimpressed by "Mutual Love" as I am, followed historical practice in choosing to set their adaptation to a different tune of the era, "The Flight". So any recording or sheet music aimed at the modern English country dance community may be labeled "Mutual Love" but actually be "The Flight" instead. It would be perfectly reasonable to dance these figures to that tune or to any other thirty-two-bar country dance tune of the 1770s or 1780s, however!
Facsimiles from the original tune books
The four images below of tunes with the figures discussed here are:
- "Mutual Love" and "The Ton", from Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Fashionable Country Dances. Vol. 4 (c1780)
- "The Ton", from Longman and Broderip's Compleat Collection of 200 Favorite Country Dances (c1781)
- "The Morning Rout", from Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Fashionable Country Dances. Vol. 5 (c1788)
Click each image to enlarge it.
This post is for Lucy, who wants to do things authentically. You make me happy!
Since no one else has answered this: the tune for Mutual Love in Barnes is a lovely 6/8 tune (I think its title may actually be The Flight), completely different from the one you have here.
Posted by: Marnen Laibow-Koser | December 24, 2017 at 06:19 PM
Thanks!
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | January 28, 2018 at 12:47 PM