Capering & Kickery

April 2014 Gig Calendar

April is going to be a crazy month for me, with a slow start, then three weeks of near-constant travel to New York, Boston, Chicago, New York (again), and Toronto!  Regency everywhere, a little bit of waltz, blues DJing in Boston, and a fancy dress ball in New York City!

Tuesday, April 1st ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Jane Austen Era Dancing (Facebook event)
Beginner-friendly lesson 8:15-9:30pm.  No costume needed.

Sunday, April 6th ~ New York City
Regency Dance Workshop (Facebook event)
Beginner-friendly lesson 3:00-5:00pm.  No costume needed.

Tuesday, April 8th ~ Somerville, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy (Facebook event)
7:30-11:00pm (lesson then dancing).  DJing blues from 9:45-11:00.

Thursday, April 10th ~ Somerville, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Blues Union (Facebook event)
7:30-11:30pm (clinic then beginner lesson then dancing).  DJing blues from 10:30-11:30.

Saturday, April 12th ~ Boston area
Regency dance workshop -- private event, email for details

Saturday, April 12th ~ Boston area
Blues house party -- private event

Saturday, April 19th ~ Chicago, Illinois
7:00-??? pm
Cross-Step Waltz Workshop for Fermilab International Folk Dancing (PDF flyer here)

Monday, April 21st ~ Oak Park, Illinois (Chicago area)
7:00-10:00pm
Regency & Civil War Era Dancing for Oak Park English Country Dancing (PDF flyer here)

Friday, April 25th ~ New York City
Victorian Fancy Dress Ball (Facebook event)
8:00-10:00pm
Informal ball with recorded music at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn.  Nineteenth-century fancy dress (masquerade costume) encouraged!

Saturday, April 26th ~ Toronto, Ontario
2:00-5:00pm
Regency workshop & lecture for the York Regency Dancers (private event)

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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: April 1-5, 14-15, 24
New York City: April 6 & 25
Boston area: April 8-13
Chicago, Illinois: April 17-21
Toronto, Ontario: April 26-30

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Coming in May: the 200th anniversary year of the Burning of the Ships Commemmoration Regency Ball in Essex, Connecticut!

Half & Half Variations: A Complex Hesitation

Wrapping up my little half & half miniseries, here's a wacky little sequence that throws in everything but the kitchen sink: a hesitation, travel, turning, and a change of lead foot.  This is from the Quinlan Twins description of the half & half in the 1914 compilation Dance Mad, second edition.  The only name given it is the deceptively bland "Seventh Figure".

The sequence is unusual in two other ways as well: odd and even measures have different rhythm patterns, and it appears that both measure have no step on the fifth count, an unusual departure from the standard 1...4,5 half & half rhythm pattern.  All of this makes it not particularly beginner-friendly.

There are also some ambiguities in the original wording:

Glide left foot to 4th position front (1): draw right to 3rd position (2); elevate left in 4th position front and carry in a semi-circle to 4th position back, still elevated (3); step back on left, bending left knee slightly (4); point right toe in 4th position front (5).  1 measure.

Step forward on right (1); forward on left (2); on right (3); step on left making half-turn to right, left toe pointing in 4th position front, both facing new line of direction (4 and 5).  1 measure.

Repeat above 2 measures...changing line of direction on 4 and 5 of each second measure.

The instructions are to the gentleman; the lady dances opposite.  The bolding is mine, highlighting the two problem spots:

Half & Half Variations: The Scissors

Here's a nifty little variation for the half & half, as offered by the Castle Assistants in 1914: the scissors. 

To quickly recap: the half & half is danced in 5/4 time, with the dancers taking three steps (on beats 1, 4, and 5) to each measure of music.  There is a lengthy hesitation on the second and third beats.  A more detailed description may be found in my earlier post on basic traveling steps for the half & half.

Dancing the scissors
The scissors begin with the gentleman's back to line of dance, his right foot free.  He crosses right behind (1), hesitates in the usual half & half style (23), then makes two more steps along the same diagonal toward the wall, left-right (45), turning 90 degrees at the end to prepare for the repeat.  On the next measure, he crosses left behind and travels toward the center.  The lady dances on the opposite feet and always crosses in front on the first beat of a measure.  The dancers should meander gently along the line of dance as they cross back and forth.

Like all half & half moves, the scissors are made much more graceful if the dancers rise on the toe on the first step and hold there, raising the trailing foot, during the hesitation on the second and third counts.

Setting up for the scissors
Since the scissors require a right-foot lead by the gentleman, either they must be led on an even bar or the lead foot must be switched (as described in my last post) so that the gentleman is leading with the right foot on an odd bar.  The scissors flow particularly nicely following a lead foot change  from a natural turning waltz, since the momentum of the turn lets the dancers fall easily into the cross step, but they also work from the promenade, backing the gentleman, and waltz pursuit (gentleman backing).

From the reverse waltz, either the transition just becomes a pursuit sequence with the dancers not turning, or, if the dancers actually turn counter-clockwise on beats four and five (step and hold), they will fall into a "reverse scissors", with the lady backing up and crossing behind while the gentleman dances forward and crosses in front.  Though that option is not specifically given, it is very much in keeping with 1910s dance style.

In other dances
The 1910s tango step known as the scissors (les ciseuax, las tijeras) seems to not be quite the same as the half & half version.  As described and depicted by Vernon and Irene Castle, the partners are moving in mirror image on the crossing step, both crossing in front rather than one in front and one behind.

What the half & half scissors does resemble is the "boat swing" move in the 1910s one-step, in which the dancers do the same diagonal crosses in four counts with the hesitation shifted to the end: cross-step-step-lift/turn.

The same sequence in 3/4 time (cross-step-step/turn with no hesitation) has been adopted as a variation for today's cross-step waltz as travelling "back ochos".  You can see the 3/4 version with the lady backing up at about the 2:33 mark here.

Source for the scissors
Dance Mad, second edition, [edited] by F. Leslie Clendenen, St. Louis, 1914

Half & Half: Switching the Lead Foot

I touched briefly in a previous post on half & half variations on how to easily change the lead foot in this dance, but since the technique applies to other variations as well (and to other dances, for that matter), I thought I would break it out into its own little post.

The two classic ways to switch the lead foot are to either add a step or subtract one.  Subtraction works especially beautifully with the gentle sway of the half & half, and in the 1914 Quinlan Twins description of the dance, it is explicitly recommended:

On counts 4 and 5 of 8th measure, take one step with left foot and pose, leaving right pointed in 2nd position.

In context, this is used when the two dancers are promenading, in waltz position but both turned to face line of dance and doing three forward steps on each measure of half & half in the standard 1...4 5 rhythm of the dance.   Odd measures are led with the gentleman's left foot, even with the gentleman's right foot; the lady dances opposite.  On the 8th (or any even) measure, the gentleman steps as follows:

1    Forward right
23  Hold, raising left foot behind
4    Forward left
5    Face partner, right foot trailing in second position

A little bit of body sway helps keep the foot off the ground.

This transition leaves the gentleman free to lead the next (odd) measure on the right foot.  If the dancers are highly sensitive to the odd/even bars in the music and prefer to initiate variations on a "first bar", this will allow them to do so.

The technique works equally well from the other half & half traveling steps: the waltz (reverse or natural), the walz pursuit, and backing the lady (or gentleman).  Variations in angle and amount (or lack) of turn can leave the dancers in whatever orientation is required -- gentleman's back to line of dance, lady's back to line of dance, both facing line of dance, or facing each other (sides to line of dance).

To switch the lead foot back, do the same maneuver on a bar when the gentleman is leading with the left foot.  He steps left (1), holds (2-3), right (4), and holds (5).

Source for this lead switch:
Dance Mad, second edition, [edited] by F. Leslie Clendenen, St. Louis, 1914

Half & Half: Varying the Promenade

An easy way to liven up the half & half, the 5/4 waltz of the mid-1910s, is to vary the promenade. 

In the basic half & half promenade (previously described here), the dancers take ballroom hold and both face line of dance, gliding forward side by side with half & half step patterns (1...4-5, 1...4-5). 

The second edition of the 1914 compilation Dance Mad offer two easy ways to vary this promenade:

In the Quinlan Twins' description of the half & half, the eighth figure is a more elaborate promenade that alternates dips and foot lifts:

123    Step forward (gent's left/lady's right) and dip to the floor
45      Walk forward two steps
123    Step forward (gent's right/lady's left) and raise free foot to 4th position forward
45      Walk forward two steps

Leading the dip is easy, though the gentleman should be careful to guide the lady down gently, taking a long step (lunge) with torso vertical rather than bent forward, so she does not feel like he is pushing her face-first into the ground.  To lead the second measure, simply tilt back lightly on the first step; the raising of the free foot must be caught visually by the lady.  Repeat the pattern a few times so that she has a chance to perform it correctly.

The Castle Assistants take a different approach in "Step Six" by adding a hop to the standard promenade:

123    Step forward (gent's left/lady's right) raising free foot behind and making a slight hop
45      Walk forward two steps
123    Repeat on second foot
45      Walk forward two steps

Leading a hop is easy: just hop at the appropriate moment.  The lady won't catch it the first time, but she will on the next repeat.

They also offer a second version with the foot alternately raised in front and behind:

123    Step forward (gent's left/lady's right), raising free foot forward and making a slight hop
45      Walk forward two steps
123    Step forward (gent's right/lady's left), raising free foot behind and making a slight hop
45      Walk forward two steps

The first half of this pattern just adds a hop to the second half of the Quinlan Twins variation above and is led the same way, with a backward tilt.

All three patterns can be mixed and matched, but be careful to repeat each one enough times in succession for the lady to do it successfully.  Switching patterns every two measures will just be irritating.

Source for these variations for the half and half:
Dance Mad, second edition, [edited] by F. Leslie Clendenen, St. Louis, 1914

Dance fashions in Paris, 1822

Here's an interesting little tidbit that's a good reminder of some of the things we don't know about early nineteenth century social dance.

The article at left, "Present State of Dancing in Paris", appeared in the April, 1822, issue of Bell's Court and Fashionable Magazine, better known as La Belle Assemblée.

The highlights:

"Spanish dances are quite the rage; and the term may be well applied to the Bularo, which, when danced in the best manner in Spain, always reminded me of two persons scolding each other: this dance, with the Fandango, is much in favour now in Paris; and the French ladies dance them in a manner, which would make one imagine they had long sojourned in Spain, or, at least, among the Pyrenees."

"Spanish dances" here seems to refer not to the variant country dance form but rather to dances for couples, or possibly for solo female dancers.  Male and female dancers both use castanets, and the (presumably female) Fandango dancers wear "Chinese crape pantaloons lined with levantine."

"The waltz and Le Moulinet still, however, continue in high favour: the diversity of steps introduced in all dances is astonishing; and the agile movement of the small feet, all in white satin slippers, absolutely dazzle the eyes." 

Note that these appear to have been exclusively French feet.  English ladies are declared notable for the "elegance and vanity of their attire" and "the intrinsic worth of their jewels and ornaments".

I would guess Le Moulinet to refer to quadrilles, which were indeed blessed with a wild diversity of steps in this era.  I'd be quite curious to know how diverse the waltz steps were; surviving sources don't provide nearly as much variation as for the quadrille.

"The shuffling step, I am sorry to say, à la Portugais, is not yet out of favour." 

Apparently Portuguese steps were not as admired as Spanish ones.

Click the photograph to enlarge and read the whole thing!

Article photograph courtesy of Irene Urban, from her collection
of early nineteenth-century women's magazines.