Capering & Kickery

July 2015 Gig Calendar

July is mostly taken up by a lengthy trip to Russia (yes, again!) to teach in Perm and Novosibirsk, traveling internally via trans-Siberian railroad!  After some jet lag recovery time, I'll wind down the month with a trip to the Beau Monde writers' conference in New York City and my usual open Regency workshops.

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Saturday, July 4th ~ Perm, Russia
Dance workshops (VKontakte (in Russian))
10:00am-4:00pm.  Early twentieth century maxixe and tango, 1820s Royal Scotch Quadrilles

Wednesday-Sunday, July 8-12th ~ Novosibirsk, Russia
Dance Festival; teaching (1) 1910s foxtrot, tango, maxixe, sequence dances; (2) early 19th century English and American country dance, quadrilles; (3) late 19th century Yorks, rackets, waltzes, country dances, quadrilles

Thursday, July 22nd ~ New York City
Beau Monde Miniconference (Regency subgroup of the Romance Writers of America)
4:30-5:15pm.  Lecture on Regency-era dance
7:00-11:00pm. Soiree (leading dancing during part of this)

Sunday, July 26th ~ New York City
Regency Dance Workshop (Facebook event)
3:00-5:00pm.  Beginner-friendly lesson.  No costume needed.

Wednesday, July 29th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Jane Austen Era Dancing (Facebook event)
8:00-9:30pm.  Beginner-friendly dancing.  No costume needed.

Events and workshops further in the future may be found on the Gig Calendar!

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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: July 17-21, 27-31
New York: July 22-23, 26

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Coming in August: quiet time at home for research and writing.  See the Gig Calendar for further-out events and workshops!

Mr. Faurot's Hesitation Waltz

This hesitation waltz sequence by Seattle dance teacher George G. Faurot (c1879-1954) was published in both editions of F. Leslie Clendenen's compilation Dance Mad (St. Louis, 1914).  Faurot himself was a native of Lima, Ohio, where his uncle Ben discovered oil and his brother Lee eventually became mayor.  Faurot Park in Lima was donated by Ben and is named for him.  

According to George's obituary, he fought in the Spanish-American War and then had a career in the oil industry before moving to Seattle, where he ran the Faurot Studio of Dancing with his wife, Nellie, for thirty years.  The Faurots' residence in the late 1930s is now a historical site in Seattle.  The building that housed their dance studio, the Oddfellows Building, still stands and is still home to a dance studio, Century Ballroom, though the Faurot Ballroom itself seems to have been in the first-floor space which is now the Oddfellows Cafe.

Interestingly, Lee, before becoming mayor, also seems to have dabbled in dance teaching before ending up in the insurance business and politics.  A family passion?

Faurot's hesitation waltz consists of two sixteen-bar sections which Faurot noted can be used individually or combined into a single thirty-two-bar sequence.  The first section moves against the line of dance at one point, so it's not a good sequence to do in a crowded ballroom unless the whole room is dancing in unison.  The second section travels only intermittently, with two two-bar sets of in-place hesitations, but is more practical for general use.

One for the ponies!

I've been waiting for most of my life for another horse to win the Triple Crown, and, much to my chagrin, when it finally happened I was working and therefore missed seeing it live even on television, let alone indulging my secret hope to one day see such a thing in person.  Arrgh!

I will console myself by free-associating to a foxtrot variation: the Cavalry Charge!

The first thing to be aware of is that Edna Stuart Lee, in her Thirty Fox Trot Steps (New York, 1916), calls the following sequence "The Pony Trot" and claims that it was the original foxtrot step:

1234    Four walking steps
1&2&  Four trots

Lee gives the following performance note:

This was formerly danced in a rather pronounced fashion with long, bouncing running steps, and this form is still splendid exercise for the gymnasium or playground, but for the ballroom the running steps should be very short and the feet barely leave the floor, otherwise the effect is choppy, as in the old hopping waltz.

Notice that at the typical two counts to the musical bar, this makes a three-bar sequence.  I have my doubts about this being the original foxtrot step because the other early walk/trot patterns I've encountered all seem to have walks and trots at a 1:2 ratio rather for neat two- or four-bar sequences.  (Also, why the original foxtrot would be called a pony trot is beyond me...)

But Lee is very, very fond of having four walking steps at the start of all her foxtrot variations despite the occasional musically-uneven results.  She's not the only writer to do that; the Coll turn described at the end of this post was originally a five-bar sequence for the same reason.  So it's not a terrible shock to find that the Cavalry Charge, which incorporates the Pony Trot, ends up as a messy seven bars.  Personally, I find this so irritating that I choose to chop off the first two walking steps to make it line up better with the music.  My reconstruction below reflects this.

As is the case for other ragtime variations with cute names (including the foxtrot itself), this variation bears no resemblance to anything that actual cavalry does on the battlefield.  But it's fun to dance.

The Cavalry Charge is done in a standard close ballroom hold, the gentleman going forward (facing line of dance) and the lady backward.  His steps are given below; she dances opposite.

The Cavalry Charge
12        Two walking steps [two previous steps removed for musicality] (gentleman left, right)
3&4&  Four trots (gentleman left, right, left, right)
12&     Two walking steps and a hop (gentleman left, right, then hop on the right foot)
34&     Two walking steps and a hop (gentleman left, right, then hop on the right foot)
12&     Two walking steps and a hop (gentleman left, right, then hop on the right foot)
34        Two walking steps (gentleman left, right)

Counted in slows and quicks, this is SS QQQQ SQQ SQQ SQQ SS. 

On each hop, the free foot (gentleman's left, lady's right) is kicked up behind, as in the Hop Turn.

My removing of the first two steps makes the Cavalry Charge a six-bar sequence.  If that is bothersome, simply add two more bars of dancing to even it out.  The distinctive move here is the walk-walk-hop (SQQ) combination, so either inserting another two bars of of that before the hop-free final bar or ending with some two-bar sequence (such as two walks and four trots) will make it add up to a more musical eight bars.

Lee notes that this sequence is "splendid for exercise."

The post is dedicated to the magnificent American Pharoah, his jockey Victor Espinoza, and his trainer Bob Baffert.
Watch the video of the Triple Crown win at the Belmont Stakes here!

The Skills of Signior Squeak

A Gentleman of vast agility,
Who teaches capers and civility
And whose whole life consists of play days,
Informs the gentlemen and ladies
Of this good town and other places,
That he's Grand Master of the Graces --
Professor of the violin,
And hopes to suit them to a pin
In teaching arts and fascinations,
Dancing and other recreations;

When life is stressful I need a little bit of silliness, and where better to find it than in bad Regency verse full of double entendres?  "Other recreations" indeed!

June 2015 Gig Calendar

June is hopefully going to be a quiet month.  I'm doing my regular monthly workshops and a bit of blues DJing, plus a lovely Steampunk weekend at a Catskills resort, but mostly I am staying home to take care of various non-dance matters, try to catch up on my writing, and prepare for yet another lengthy trip to Russia. 

Sometime this month there is likely to be a crowdfunding campaign, too!  Want to help?

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Friday-Sunday, June 5-7th ~ East Durham, New York (Catskills)
Steampunk in the Catskills (Facebook event)
Steampunk-Victorian Ball Saturday night; available for private lessons all weekend!

Tuesday, June 16th ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy (Facebook event)
7:30-11:00pm (lesson then dancing).  DJing blues from 9:45-11:00.

Wednesday, June 24th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Jane Austen Era Dancing (Facebook event)
8:00-9:30pm  Beginner-friendly dancing.  No costume needed.

Sunday, June 28th ~ New York City
Regency Dance Workshop (Facebook event)
3:00-5:00pm  Beginner-friendly lesson.  No costume needed.

Events and workshops further in the future may be found on the Gig Calendar!

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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: June 4, 8-15, 18-27
Boston, Massachusetts: June 16-17
New York City: June 28
St. Petersburg, Russia: June 30

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Coming in July: back to Russia (yes, again) for workshops in Perm and a festival in Novosibirsk, plus brief social stops in Moscow and St. Petersburg.  See the Gig Calendar for further-out events and workshops!