Jackson, Otis, a Huntsman, and the Girls of Belfast

I could justify calling this dance, and by extension this post, any of the following:

• Jackson at New Orleans
• Huntsman's Hornpipe
• Girls of Belfast
• Otis's Quickstep

Obviously, I punted.

The dance in question appears attached to all these names in various mid-19th century sources.  Elias Howe was partial to the first two, which are the tunes under which the figures appeared in his Improved Edition of the Musician’s Omnibus (Boston, 1861).  They reappeared without music, again under both names, in Howe's American dancing master, and ball-room prompter (Boston 1862).  In H. G.O. Washburn's The ball-room manual of contra dances and social cotillons (Belfast, Maine, and Boston, 1863), by contrast, the same figures turned up under the name "Girls of Belfast" for the tune "Otis's Quickstep".

I feel more and more suspicious of the whole idea of naming contra dance figures in mid-nineteenth-century America.  At a minimum, one certainly has some options in naming this dance and choosing a tune, and I am coming to the conclusion that in New England in the mid-nineteenth century one could attach any figures to any suitable tune, as in earlier eras.  Howe certainly seems to have done so with abandon.

But for whatever it's worth, here are the two pieces from Howe, with the figures:

 "Otis's Quickstep" is available online at the University of Tennessee's Sheet Music Collection.  Neither I nor the library have been able to date that music very precisely, but it must be from after 1835, when the Boston Brass Band was founded, and is probably from 1864 or earlier, since that's when Baltimore publisher F. D. Benteen (better known for publishing some of Stephen Foster's works) died.  

What caught my eye about the dance was not the ambiguous nomenclature but the impressive set of figures.  Unlike many American contra (country) dances of this era, this one is a full forty-eight bars long, rather than the more typical thirty-two.  And the figures themselves are a pleasant mishmash of some of the more interesting ones from the contra dance repertoire: the turn into a wavy line (as in "Hull's Victory" and "German Waltz"), the improper casting off that sets up new combinations of dancers facing each other across the set for a ladies' chain (as in "Light Dragoon" and its apparent ancestors by Vincent Masi), a brief triple minor figure just to give the third couple something to do, and finally a good old traditional right and left to end the dance.

I suspect this one won't become a general hit because of the length, the triple minor figure that makes it take even longer to dance, and the slightly greater than average complexity, but I rather like it for those reasons plus the smooth flow of the figures.  So I will toss it out here in hopes that others will find it interesting as well.

Here's my reconstruction, with notes below.  The set formation is a proper line of couples, all ladies on one side and gentlemen on the other, partner facing partner.  The dance is triple minor, though the third couple does not see much action, so if the set is going to start off all at once, as Howe, at least, thought was a fine idea (this was not universally shared), then they need to count off minor sets of three couples.  The figures:

2b    Active couple turns halfway round by right hand, moving between second couple, who step up and give left hands to the active dancers to form a wavy line, ladies facing up the set and gentlemen down
2b    All four balance in the wavy line to the right and to the left
4b    Active couple drop right hands and make a complete left-hand turn with the neighbor they are holding by that hand
4b    Actives meet again in the center, still improper, take crossed hands facing each other, and chassez down the set (2b) and back (2b)
4b    Actives cast off (still improper) to second place
8b    Top four dancers ladies chain across the set
8b    Active couple goes separately down the outsides of the set (4b) and returns to the same (second) place in the set (4b)
4b    All three couples go forward and back
4b    Active couple turns halfway by the right hand to return to their proper sides
8b    Active couple and couple above (original second couple) right and left, with hands, starting right hands to partners

I've made some very specific choices in this reconstruction.  Taking them bit by bit from the starting position shown:

    (top of set)
    G1        L1
    G2        L2
    G3        L3
 (more couples)

The process of getting into the wavy line, balancing, and turning the second couple is a standard sequence that appears in other contras of this era.  The balance would be a simple step-close to the right and then to the left, making eye contact as appropriate.  Here's the formation at that point:

        (top of set)
    G2~L1~G1~L2
         G3     L3
     (more couples)

For the down-and-up, there is a common tendency to galop down the set as far as possible for four bars and then try to get all the way back up to the top and cast off in the remaining four.  There is also a tendency to turn as a couple at the far end, because experienced dancers instinctively try to reset back to proper sides.  I'm trying to suppress both tendencies here.

Galloping (chassez) down the set and back is, in fact, one documentable way of performing the move and a valid alternative to promenading.  The cross-hand hold flows very nicely coming out of the left-hand turns: the dancers meet and naturally take right hands, then take left hands as well.  They are then well-positioned for a decorous chassez 1&2&3&4 down, which should go no further than their own minor set, and the same back up to the top, where they then have a full four bars for a graceful cast.  Keep in mind that in hoop skirts the ladies need to make longer and more time-consuming paths than in the Regency era!

After the cast off, the formation looks like this:

    (top of set)
    G2        L2
    L1        G1
    G3        L3
  (more couples)

Gentleman 2/lady 1 and gentleman 1/lady 2 are temporary partners, each lady standing on that gentleman's right and facing her original partner.  They do the ladies chain not up and down the set but across it.

The forward and back six finally gets the third couple involved, and the cross over puts the active couple back to proper sides:

    (top of set)
    G2        L2
    G1        L1
    G3        L3
 (more couples)

Who performs the right and left is not specified, but it is generally the top two couples.  My preference for contras of this era is to take hands on the right and left, as I have previously discussed at length.

None of these moves are all that unusual or difficult individually, but the combination in one dance is kind of nifty.

For music, take your pick of any of the three tunes.  "Jackson at New Orleans" is a three part tune that fits the dance with AABBCC repeats.  It would be my first choice.  "Otis's Quickstep" has four strains, and the available sheet music is not really arranged for a forty-eight-bar contra, so I would defer to the musicians as to what exactly to do with them.  "Huntsman's Hornpipe" has the opposite problem, having only two strains; they could be played ABBABB or AABAAB.  Once again, I would defer to the musicians.

Enjoy!