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.
The sequence begins with the dancers side by side facing line of dance. It's not specified whether they are holding near hands or in "military" position, with the gentleman's right arm around the lady's waist and her left hand on his right shoulder. Either position will work and would be reasonable during the 1890s. Hand in hand is a little more comfortable to dance, but "military" position makes the transition from the end of the sequence back to the beginning easier.
The steps given below are for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite. Each measure of music has four beats; the sequence below is by beat, rather than by measure.
First Part (four measures)
1 Raise left foot in third, toe touching the floor
2 Hop on right, extending left foot forward
3 Hop on right, bringing left back to third raised
4 Pause
5 Glide left foot foward
6 Close right behind left
7 Glide left foot forward
8 Swing right foot forward
1-8 Repeat all of the above, starting on the right foot
Second Part (four measures)
1 Leap forward on left foot, right foot raised and extended behind
2 Hop on left foot, swinging right foot forward
3 Leap forward on right foot, left foot raised and extended behind
4 Hop on right foot, swinging left foot forward
5-8 Repeat all of the above, then take waltz position
1-8 "Waltz schottische" two full turns, opening at the end to face forward again
(see below for suggestions for the waltz schottische)
Reconstruction Notes
1. As noted above, the starting position is ambiguous.
2. In the second part, it's not entirely clear where the free foot is on the odd counts; the language in the instructions is "throw right foot up back", which seems to call for more of a raised fourth position than a raised third. In the first part, Malone differentiates between "3rd position raised" and "throw [either] foot up in front".
3. The "waltz schottische" at the end is not explained. Two possibilities are (a) the waltz-galop, which is frequently used for turning in late-nineteenth century American schottische sequences, and (b) simple step- or leap-hops, which date back to the mid-nineteenth century schottische but were still used in some late variations. A skillful leader will be able to use either at will, tempo permitting -- the waltz-galop works much better with gently-paced music.
Music
I am not aware of any recording of the Yale Schottische, but musicians could play from the sheet music. The dance would also work with any other schottische music.
A copy of the Yale Schottische is online at The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection at Johns Hopkins University. There is also a copy in Yale's own sheet music collection.
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