The beautiful dance card pictured at right (click to enlarge) went by me on ebay almost two years ago, but the seller kindly uploaded a full set of pictures, inside and out, which I carefully downloaded for future reference. The rest of the images may be found further down this post.
The event for which the card was designed was L. G. Marini's 21st Annual Floral May Festival and Ball, held at Marini's Hall, Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 20, 1880. The card is unused.
The dance program, alas, was quite banal, a standard late nineteenth century mix of waltzes (seven), the Lancers (four), a galop, and two polkas. The ball was begun with an aria from Bellini, and the music given for each dance is by well-known composers such as Strauss, Weingarten, Planquette, and Weigand. There were seven dances plus the aria before intermission and seven after. No grand march is mentioned.
I'd held off posting this card for so long because I couldn't really think of much to say about it except that the cover illustrations were charming and that it specifically mentioned that refreshments were to be served from 10:00 to midnight, though it neglected to give the actual time of the ball.
But there is one minor detail of note: the first polka, to a tune from Faust, is listed as "Polka (Glide)". The other polka is just plain "Polka". Why the difference?
There is a polka variation called the Glide Polka which appears in M. B. Gilbert's Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) and a few other sources including, oddly enough, several physical education manuals going well into the twentieth century.
It's very rare for any specific dance variation to be mentioned on a dance card. So while we can't be perfectly certain that the Glide Polka described in Gilbert is what was meant, even the chance that it is documenting the use of that variation makes this card notable.
So let's talk about the Glide Polka!
But first, here's the back cover of the card, featuring a scissors-wielding hairdresser and a woman in curlers and glasses reading the newspaper:
Now, down to business:
Gilbert is normally a fairly clear writer, as dance writers go, but his instructions for this polka are oddly numbered:
Slide left foot to the side (2d), 1; draw right foot to left, and almost simultaneously slide left to the side (chassé), & 2; one measure. Draw right to left and slide left to the side, & 1; draw right to left (1st), transferring weight of body to right foot, 2; leap sidewise from the right to the left foot, 3; one measure. 1, & 2 to be made in a direct line to the side, the turn to be made on 1, 2, 3.
"1&2 123" is an odd way to count the steps. Polkas can be counted "1&2" or "1-2-3-pause", but normally not both ways alternating. Some explanation may be found in the pages of The Director, a dance journal founded by Gilbert that ran for only a year or so. In the March, 1898, issue, the Glide Polka is featured in the column "Methods of Teaching Social Dancing", where it is counted "slide, and slide, and 1-2-3" because pupils are "accustomed to use 1-2-3 to represent the polka".
That minor hiccup resolved, the reconstruction is straightforward enough:
Glide Polka (four bars)
1b Slide-close-slide-close (1&2&)
1b Slide-cut-leap (1&2), making a half-turn
1b (Hop) slide-close-slide-close (&1&2&)
1b Slide-cut-leap (1&2), making a half-turn
That is exactly what is stated in The Director -- two slide-closes and the steps of the polka (minus the usual initiating hop), similar to a four-slide galop in its turning pattern but with slightly more complex footwork. The gentleman starts left foot and the lady right. The first and third measures travel sideways along line of dance and half-turns are made on the second and fourth. Gilbert specifically notes the hop at the beginning of the third measure; it would also appear at the start of the first measure if the dance is repeated:
In beginning a repetition of the movements, either to the right or left, make a hop on the foot which receives the weight of the body at the close of the preceding movements, and almost simultaneously slide the disengaged foot to the side (counting, & 1).
Other than the hop, this description is consistent with those found in other sources.
The Glide Polka, like other basic dances of the nineteenth century that use a polka-style turn, can be danced with natural or reverse turns, or can zig-zag along the line of dance forward (meaning that the gentleman going forward while the lady backs up) or backward (gentleman backs, lady moves forward).
Gilbert gives several alternate names for the Glide Polka: the Coquette Polka, the Rush Polka, and the Three Slide Polka.
To wrap things up, here are the images showing the inside of the dance card:
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