Winding up the Octagon Lancers, here are the last two figures:
Figure Four (8b + 20bx4)
8b Wait (not repeated)
4b Head couples move in to face corner side couples (sides do not move); all salute opposites
4b Head couples turn to the center to face their neighbor couple and pass by, giving right hands, to face the opposite side couple; all salute diagonal-opposites
4b Heads couples face neighbors again, pass by right hands, and turn partners by left hands to places
8b All couples right and left (chaine anglaise) on corners
This is where Rivers starts to get creative, though he doesn't come near to matching the wacky progressive fourth figure of the Royal Lancers. The head couples first lead in and face the sides in straight lines, not on the corners, for their first salutes, thus:
G3 L1 G1 L4
L3 G1 L1 G4
G3 L2 G2 L4
L3 G2 L2 G4
When the head couples turn around to face the center, the gentlemen (G1 and G2) will be to the right of their ladies. It's meant to be like that. When they then pass the person they are facing, the formation will then look like this:
G3 G1 L1 L4
L3 L1 G1 G4
G3 G2 L2 L4
L3 L2 G2 G4
Since this leaves gentlemen facing gentlemen and ladies facing ladies, and Rivers was not having any same-sex saluting in his quadrille, the second salute is to the person diagonally opposite. G3/L1, G1/L3, G1/L4, G4/L1, etc.
The head couples then turn around again and effectively do a half right and left to get back to their original places -- right hands to the person then opposite them, then left hands to their own partner to turn back to their lines on the sides. That is then followed by all the dancers doing a full right and left across and back on the corners. Fun!
The second time through, the side couples lead in to face the head couples and the first twelve bars proceed on the other axis of the set. The third iteration repeats the first and the fourth repeats the second.
The salutes are fast (the music should have brief ritards to signal them) and should be more along the lines of a passing bow or courtesy rather than the full formal ones done at the start of the quadrille.
Once again I've added in the eight bars of introduction.
Note that some Lancers versions have a twenty-bar fourth figure while others have twenty-four. Make sure any recording or sheet music used for the Octagon Lancers gives only twenty bars for this figure!
Figure Five (chord + 48bx4 +16b)
chord Wait (not repeated)
8b All sixteen dancers take hands and circle to the left
8b All circle to the right back to places
4b First couples promenade around inside of set, ending in starting places facing outward
4b Corner couples fall in behind (2b); next side couples fall in behind (2b)
(the dancers are now in a four-by-four formation, as shown below, each line of four dancers holding hands)
8b All lines chassez to the left and back to the right twice
4b Cast off: outside files cast down the outside, while inside files turn inward and march down the middle of the set, taking nearer hands
4b Come back up in couples: meet partners, about face, take near hands and march back up; end facing partners
(this ends with all dancers in exactly the same positions in the four-by-four formation as before the casting off)
4b All take hands in lines and go forward and back
4b All turn partners by two hands to places
(coda figure done once after all four repeats are complete)
8b All sixteen dancers take hands and circle to the left
8b All circle to the right back to places
On the second iteration, the second couples face outward and the entire set faces the other way in the four-by-four formation. For the third iteration, the third couples face outward and the casting and coming back up is done on the other axis of the set. Ditto the fourth and last time, when the fourth couples face outward.
This is a wonderful adaptation of the fifth figure, more of a full-group figure than the parallel figure in the Royal Lancers which mostly splits into parallel sets of eight. I think some diagrams will help, though! The four-by-four formation after the first sixteen bars looks like this:
G1 L1 G1 L1
G3 L3 G4 L4
G3 L3 G4 L4
G2 L2 G2 L2
The dancers hold hands in lines across the set (G-L-G-L) for the chassez left and right twice. This is not a chassé-croisé figure, either individually or by couples. The entire set moves together in the same direction.
For the casting down, each first couple separates, the gentleman casting to the left and the lady to the right. For the center L1 and G1, and the dancers following, they will move in parallel down the center of the set, holding hands. The entire set reverses, ending thus:
G2 L2 G2 L2
G3 L3 G4 L4
G3 L3 G4 L4
G1 L1 G1 L1
The first couples then take their own partners by near hands and go back up the column, the other dancers moving down the line and then following them up in couples in turn to get back to the first formation above, ending with all facing partners in same-sex lines of four dancers, the center two lines back to back.
As with the first four figures, Rivers' instructions are clear enough to the experienced dance reconstructor, though I've rephrased and expanded them somewhat to make them simpler for the modern dancer. The chord introduction is not mentioned but is standard for this figure.
Enjoy!
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