Capering & Kickery

A dancing master's epitaph

From a book of "select and remarkable" epitaphs published in 1757:

On Mr. Maddox, a Dancing-Master, and his Wife.
They were lovely and pleasant in their Lives, and in 
    their Deaths they were not divided.
Hail happy Pair!  predestin'd long to prove
The chastest Raptures of connubial Love!
Who took no Step thro' Life's perplexed Dance,
But what would well your mutual Bliss advance!
Who figur'd not a Plan but what was meant,
Again to join your Hands with fresh Content.
Tho' ceremonious--yet with Ease still fraught;
The very Image of the Art you taught !
Polite in all Life's mazy Measures try'd,
As the gay Partner to his destin'd Bride.
Twice thirty Years in gentle Wedlock past,
The first was not so happy as the last !
Still each to each so complaisantly gay,
As raptur'd Lovers on their Nuptial Day !
All wing'd with Down their Years advancing roll,
And still improve this Unison of Soul!
Unvarying--courtly to his latest Breath,
He gave his Spouse Precedence e'en in Death.
The truest Honours to each other given,
He just surviv'd, then led her up to Heaven.

What's with this Paul Jones thing anyway? (1919 edition)

I've written previously about Paul Jones mixers in answer to a question about their origin, so I was quite amused to find the editors of The Dancing Times expressing their bafflement about the dance all the way back in the issue for March, 1919:

Here is the programme of music played by Alfred Delmonte's Jazz Band at the Victory Ball held at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, on Thursday, February 6th.  We are curious to know what exactly is a "Paul Jones," which figures twice upon the programme...

The Dancing Times was a British journal which covered both stage (ballet) and ballroom dancing.  Its editors may have been in the dark about the Paul Jones, but their subscribers were happy to fill them in. 

Gavotte Mad, 1914

Photo by Herman Mishkin from the New York Public Library Digital Gallery

I'm running a little low on creativity in naming posts on the cute little gavotte sequences of the 1910s if the creators themselves couldn't manage to come up with anything interesting.  This gavotte is called, simply, "Gavotte".  It appeared in the second edition of Dance Mad (F. Leslie Clendenen, ed., St. Louis, 1914) where it was said to be "adapted for the ball room, taken from the Pavlowa Gavotte". 

The Pavlowa Gavotte was a famous stage sequence in which ballerina Anna Pavlowa and her partner wore pseudo-Regency costume, presumably harking back to the famous Vestris Gavotte of that era.  Pavlowa's dance was an enormous hit during her tours and has been immortalized in photography (left), art, and sculpture.  According to the unknown author of this adaptation, Pavlowa's dance was "not suitable for the ball room", but it inspired a number of choreographed ballroom gavottes, including one by Vernon and Irene Castle and Pavlowa's own New Pavlowa Gavotte.

Like Pavlowa's original dance, this Gavotte is to be done to the famous "Glow Worm" tune, a 1914 recording of which may be heard at the Library of Congress National Jukebox.  Modern recordings are available by The National Concert Band of America and by Ian Whitcomb on the album Titanic: Music As Heard On The Fateful Voyage.

Fox Trot Hats

I've been looking for something amusing to wind up the centennial year of the foxtrot, and I found it in the November 17, 1914, issue of The Richmond Times-Dispatch: some fashion advice for the foxtrotting ladies in the store advertisement shown at left:

Fox-Trotting Without a Fox Trot Hat
is like joy riding on a steam roller.

How do I follow up a line like that?  I can only suggest reading the rest of the ad (click to enlarge) for more delightfully fulsome language.

For historical dancers, this is a reminder that during the 1910s, dancing in a hat at an afternoon thé dansant was perfectly proper, though judging by the advertisement, either not everyone agreed or not everyone succeeded in finding a suitable hat:

The frock Dansant really must find its compliment in the proper Hat.  Yet, how often is it not so?  Echo answers, "Often."

Noted dancer and fashion icon Irene Castle also advised close-fitting hats in Modern Dancing (New York, 1914):

it is dancing that has made the small hat of tulle or lace fashionable for afternoons in place of wide picture-hats.  "Big hats are unpleasant to dance in."

Many photographs of Irene in the 1910s show her dancing in a hat -- including her famous "Dutch cap", one very similar to that shown in the ad (though with a more dramatic feather decoration in front), or even one with a small brim.

"agoing to dance the spanish dance"

"...George Cowls says tell Nancy he is right in his glory to day and when he comes home he is agoing to dance the spanish dance with you and he says tell Abby he is agoing through ceders swamp with her..."
           -- Pvt. Jairus Hammond to Nancy Titus, December 8, 1862

Here's rare documentation of a specific dance: a mention in a letter from a Union soldier during the American Civil War to his sister, dated one hundred and fifty-two years ago today, that another man plans to dance the Spanish Dance (previously described here) with her when he returns.  There has been no real doubt that the Spanish Dance was actually danced and was as popular as its frequent appearance in dance manuals suggests.  I have found it listed on dozens of dance cards.  But this is another little piece of documentation demonstrating that its popularity extended well down the social scale.

The Yale Schottische, 1895

As previously noted, I always have an eye out for dances named after Yale University and Yale-related dance ephemera.  Walking through the campus earlier today on my way to a meeting reminded me that I had another Yale-themed dance to discuss: the Yale Schottische, which was published with the eponymous sheet music in 1895 and dedicated to the Yale University Football Association.  Yale has one of the oldest football programs in the world and was a regular national title winner in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.  Some of the players pictured at left (click to enlarge) are probably among the several Yalies of the 1890s chosen as All-Americans or inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.  (More details about Yale's place in football history may be found here.)

The music for the Yale Schottische was composed by J. Edward Geary, but the dance was choreographed by a local  dancing master, C. Francis Malone, who regularly taught Yale students, probably including some of the football players in the photograph!  An article about Malone from 1896 notes that the Yale Schottische has been "danced onstage at Daly's Theater, New York, and in the greater part of the United States."

The Yale Schottische is actually a double-length schottische sequence -- eight measures instead of four.  The general pattern of the dance is quite straightforward, but several details are left unspecified.  I have used my best guesses on those and included both options where there is no way to make a definitive choice.

December 2014 Gig Calendar

This month is going to be a bit more donut-shaped schedulewise than I'd originally planned: Regency at the beginning, a couple of weeks to try to finish some major writing work, then a week or so of research travel and DJing before I get to actually collapse for a week!

Here's the schedule so far, with one or two potential things still pending:

Tuesday, December 2nd ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Jane Austen Era Dancing (Facebook event)
Beginner-friendly lesson 8:15-9:30pm.  No costume needed.

Sunday, December 7th ~ New York City
Regency Dance Workshop (Facebook event)
Beginner-friendly lesson 3:00-5:00pm.  No costume needed.

Thursday, December 18th ~ Somerville, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Blues Union (Facebook event)
7:30-11:00pm (lessons until 9:30 then dancing).  DJing blues from 9:30-10:30.

Saturday, December 20th ~ Boston area
Private event

Tuesday, December 23rd ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy - Fusion Night! (Facebook event)
7:30-11:00pm (lesson then dancing).  DJing blues fusion from 9:45-11:00.

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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: December 1-6, 8-15, 24-31
New York City: December 7, 16-17
Boston area: December 18-23

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Coming in January: Regency workshops, blues DJing, and the Midwinter Ball!