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!
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