Russia has been much on my mind this week as I assembled a short presentation on on the influence of Russia -- or ideas or images of Russia -- on dance in France and England in the nineteenth century. I didn't touch on America, but at the end of the century dancing master M. B. Gilbert, in his Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890), included some dances with Russia-related names. One of these was called, simply enough, the Russia. Gilbert attributed it to Pittsburgh dancing master J. S. Christy. The Russia was also included in George Washington Lopp's La Danse (Paris, 1903), which was in large part a French translation of Gilbert, under the literally-translated title "La Russie" and attributed to "S-A Christy".
Despite the name, I don't see any actual connection between the dance and the country. The Russia is a classic back-and-forth-then-turning sequence dance intended for mazurka music. It features two mid-dance bows, as pictured at left in an illustration from Gilbert (click to enlarge). The steps include the polka redowa, the Newport, skipping, and walking steps. All of these elements could plausibly exist in a Russian dance, but there's nothing about them that is particularly unique to Russia in this era. My best guess is that the name is nothing more than a tribute to Russia, or to some idea of Russia.
The dance, however, is rather fun, and it's interesting to have a sequence dance of this pattern to use with mazurka music.
The Russia is divided into two parts. The first one is done side by side, with the dancers holding inside hands and progressing along line of dance then turning (with bows), switching hands, and repeating the sequence against line of dance. The second half is done in normal closed ballroom hold. The gentleman starts on the left foot and the lady on the right.
Note that because the dancers travel against the line of dance, the Russia really needs to be done by everyone in the room together.
The Russia/La Russie (sixteen bars)
1b Polka redowa forward (hop-slide, cut, leap; rhythm &123)
1b Skipping forward (hop-step, hop-step, hop-step; rhythm &1&2&3)
1b Walking forward (123)
1b Face partner, change hands, and bow, as pictured above
4b Repeat all of the above, starting on the other foot and traveling against the line of dance
8b Take closed position and dance the Newport, making four complete turns
Repeat as many times as the music permits.
The Newport is a variation of the "new waltz" of the late nineteenth century with the side step and close (or cut) on beats two and three of each measure subdivided to make a quick galop seqeuence. I discussed the Newport in detail a few years ago, but here is a quick summary of the steps:
1 Leap backward (along line of dance) with left foot
&2 Step right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right
&3 Step right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right
1 Leap forward (along line of dance) with right foot
&2 Step left foot to the side (along line of dance), close right to left
&3 Step left foot to the side (along line of dance), close right to left
etc.
See my earlier post on the Newport for more details.
Note that to transition gracefully into the Newport, the dancers should rise from their second set of bows and turn a quarter as they come together into closed position, so that the lady faces the line of dance and the gentleman has his back to it. This will set them up nicely for that first leap along the line of dance.
On the final step-close-step-close in the last measure of Newport, the dancers need to separate and slide out to hand-in-hand to be ready to repeat the sequence.
Reconstruction Note
The only difficulty in the descriptions of the Russia is in the skipping in the second and fifth measures. Both Gilbert and Lopp are ambiguous about exactly what is going on here:
Running step one measure, 1, 2, 3; passing the opposite foot to 4th raised at each step made by the other foot, allowing the toe to bear lightly upon the floor while passing, which may be called a skipping step. (Gilbert)
Puis portant le pied droit en avant et le tenant en l'air, sauter en glissant un peu en avant sur le pied gauche et alternativement sur les deux pieds durant une mesure. (Then carry the right foot forward, placing it in the air, hopping and sliding a bit forward on the left foot and alternately on the two feet during a measure.) (Lopp, and my translation)
This part can't be plain running; the contrast with the following three walking steps is just insufficient. With Gilbert calling it "skipping" and Lopp indicating that it is a hop and slide, alternating feet, I believe the intention is as follows:
The gentleman ends the first polka redowa on the third count of the first bar with his weight on his left foot. He then hops on that foot (&) and steps onto the right foot (1). This is repeated, hopping on the right foot (&) and stepping onto the left (2). Once more, he hops on the left (&) and steps onto the right (3), ready for the three walking steps left-right-left.
I prefer "&1&2&3" for the timing rather than the also-plausible "1&2&3&" because it flows better both from the preceding polka redowa and decelerates more gracefully for the following three walking steps.
Music
Any mazurka with a repeat structure that works for a sixteen-bar dance can be used.
Lopp gives a metronome marking of 144 beats per minute for the music, which strikes me as on the fast side given the skipping and Newport segments. But that's the same tempo Lopp gives for the Newport and Gilbert gives for mazurka and redowa variations in general, so perhaps they just liked their mazurkas brisk. I prefer it at more in the range of 124-130 bpm, myself.
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