One of the things I do on long bus trips is watch videos, and one of the videos I've been watching recently is clips of the famous 1910s dance couple Vernon and Irene Castle dancing in their quasi-autobiographical 1915 silent film, The Whirl of Life.
The Castles can be maddeningly unclear writers, but they were unquestionably superb dancers, and their book, Modern Dancing (1914), is not the sort of random compilation of other people's steps that you see in other works of this era. So I assume that anything that they thought to put in it must be something they considered important, and, when I have time, I try to match up step descriptions with their actual performance to see how what they wrote comports with what they did on the dance floor.
One of the moves that I'd never done much with before is quaintly entitled "The Outer Edge". Here is the Castles' description, from Modern Dancing:
The man steps out to the right side of the lady with his right foot. He then steps to side with his left, draws the right up to it, completing the Draw to the left. The Draw Step is danced in front of the lady. To do this the man steps to his side, one count -- that is, when he crosses his foot over his left. Now he brings the lady directly in front of him, continuing the step in that position the three remaining counts. This step can be combined very easily with any of the other steps, as it is simply a walk. The lady starts backward by crossing the left foot in back of the right. She steps out to the right side with the right, draws the left up to it, completing the Draw Step.
I did mention that the Castles were not the clearest writers.
There are two parts to The Outer Edge: the step out to Yale position, which I have discussed previously, and the draw step. I think that the counts ("three remaining") given are not actually correct, and that the breakdown of the steps, giving the gentleman's part, would be:
1 Step out with right foot to Yale position
2 Step sideways to the left
3 Close right to left with weight
The "crosses" are not really crosses, they are just the natural diagonal motion of the move into Yale position.
The Castles didn't bother to mention where in the music the sequence begins, but if the gentleman is leading with the left foot on the strong beat of the measure, as is typical, the counts would be as follows:
1 Step forward with the left foot, starting to aim diagonally left
2 Step out with right foot to Yale position
3 Step sideways to the left
4 Close right to left with weight
The Castles do not specify exactly what is happening when the man "brings the lady in front of him", so it would be possible to interpret the draw step as moving sideways toward the center of the room, which would make the transition from step out to draw quite awkward. But the Castles are not given to awkward sequences. Watching them dance The Outer Edge in the film, it's clear that they neglected to mention a quarter-turn clockwise, and that the sideways step and close are actually along the line of dance. The ending position would be facing each other, more-or-less sideways to line of dance.
So, what the Outer Edge really is is just a smoother transition between "backing the lady", with the gentleman facing line of dance, and the two dancers facing across line of dance, ready to start a grapevine or a series of draw steps, or perhaps to shift to promenade position and march forward together. That's typical of the Castles, who were the masters of slick transitions.
But, watching the video, they also had a couple of other tricks up their sleeves.
The Outer Edge appears at least twice in their Whirl of Life one-step. The second time, it is done precisely as described in the second set of counts above, Vernon leading with the left foot on "1", though it looks like Irene does more of a cross step than a close on the final count. But what's interesting is that they turn a little extra on the draw step so that they end with Vernon almost having his back to the line of dance and Irene almost facing it. And that gives them a perfect setup for the next move: pivots (traveling turns)! It's an even better setup than from walking in promenade position, since it lets Vernon already be partway across the line of dance in front of Irene, so that their first pivot step is small and easy.
It's beautiful to watch.
The first time it appears, Vernon has previously switched lead feet, so that his right foot steps on count one. Annoyingly, they perform the move so close to the camera that their feet are cut off, and the film then cuts just as they are doing the draw step, but I believe what is happening is that he uses the same trick he used to switch the lead foot in the first place to switch it back: a quick two-step (step-close-step). That would make the sequence:
1 Step out with right foot to Yale position
2 Step sideways to the left
& Close right to left with weight
3 Step sideways to the left
with "2&3" being the two-step. That resets the lead foot; he will step with his right foot on "4" and be ready to step with his left foot on "1". Because of the cut it's impossible to tell whether they would have ended by moving sideways along line of dance or with him backing or pivoting.
This is just the kind of simple-yet-stunning detail that keeps me coming back to the Castles over and over again.
A final note: there is no special reason that The Outer Edge has to be done in only three or four counts. It would be perfectly reasonable to walk for several steps in Yale position before concluding with the draw step.
The Outer Edge on film
All the Castles' dances from The Whirl of Life can be seen on the video "A Tribute to Irene and Vernon Castle" on YouTube, starting at 2:06. I would suggest muting the volume, since the (modern soundtrack) music is not matched to the dancing. Downloading the video and slowing the playback will make it easier to spot The Outer Edge, which appears in rapid succession at 2:32 (right foot lead) and 2:34 (left foot lead). It takes only a fraction of a second each time.
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