The Butterfly Tango is an anonymous sixteen-bar sequence published in the first and second editions of F. Leslie Clendenen's compilation Dance Mad, or the dances of the day (St. Louis; both editions 1914). It not named after a piece of music or colorful insect, but rather after the position of the dancers. A rather confusing illustration, shown below, accompanies the dance in the first edition of Dance Mad:
The only one of these positions which actually appears in the dance is the center one, which is described very precisely:
The partners stand side by side, the gentleman taking the lady's left hand in his left and the fingers of her right hand in his right, over her right shoulder.
This is more usually called sweetheart or varsovienne position. The dancers also shift to holding only right hands and to waltz position, but never actually take either the left- or right-hand positions in the illustration.
A "Butterfly Tango No. 2" appears in the index of both editions, but not in the text, so perhaps these illustrations go with some other Butterfly Tango that somehow slipped out of the final version.
The sequence itself is fairly straightforward to reconstruct and dance, but the music recommendation is bizarre:
"Too Much Mustard" or any good one-step played in correct accent, without syncopation, may be used.
"Too Much Mustard" is not a tango. Nor, by definition, is "any good one-step". When I originally started working on the sequence, I thought perhaps it was a one-step mistakenly classified as a tango, since there is nothing particularly tango-like about it. But my dance-testing partner and I tried dancing it to "Too Much Mustard" at typical speeds (130-137 beats per minute), with very poor results. It's physically possible, but the speed makes the dance feel spastic. Slowing the tempo down to where the dance feels graceful makes the tune sound dreadful. We tried a few other one-steps, but they really do nothing for the dance.
The Butterfly Tango does work beautifully with tango music; we used "Now Tango!" off the album of the same name by Spare Parts. Like most tangos there is a break in the middle (at about 1:35), but it is only four bars and has a distinctive enough cadence to detect easily. Dance the sequence three times, then do the forward and back walks during the four-bar break, then restart the sequence and dance it five more times.
The dance also works well to "Georgia Rainbow Foxtrot", played at eighty-four beats per minute on the same album. I would suggest ignoring the recommendation of one-step music and using a 1910s tango or foxtrot with clear eight- or sixteen-bar phrases.
Reconstruction (16 bars, two beats of music per bar)
Both dancers start on the right foot in butterfly position, described above, moving forward along the line of dance.
2b Four walking steps (right-left-right-left)
Pivot individually halfway, clockwise; lady will now be to the left of the gentleman
2b Four walking steps (right-left-right-left) against line of dance
4b Eight counts of grapevine, moving sideways along line of dance (cross right behind, left to the side, cross right in front, left to the side; repeat)
Drop left hands
2b Lady turns clockwise halfway round to face gentleman; he bows and she curtsies
1b Partners step toward each other, bringing the rear foot up to close the feet
Switch handhold to put her right hand in his left, taking a normal closed ballroom position
1b Gentleman steps back on left foot, lady forward on right
Shift weight quickly back to the other foot at the end of the measure
2b Two draw steps (step sideways along line of dance, then close up the trailing foot with a slight rise and fall; repeat)
2b Taking Yale position (right hip to right hip) trot rapidly around each other, clockwise, for four steps, the lady turning one quarter clockwise at the end so that both face line of dance, shifting back to butterfly position to restart the sequence. (See performance note below.)
Repeat from the beginning.
Note that this is an "anti-social" sequence not recommended for normal (improvisational) social dancing. Since the dancers move directly against the line of dance for two bars, it is best done with all dancers on the floor moving in unison.
Performance Notes
In the final shift from closed position back to butterfly, the gentleman releases the lady's right hand and takes her left with his while moving his right hand off her back to meet her right hand. This works very smoothly. The lady steps right-left-right-left while the gentleman steps left-right-left and only touches the right foot without giving it weight so that both have the right foot free to restart.
As the partners step toward each other after the bow and curtsy, the right hands go up in the air, where the gentleman can easily switch to his left hand in preparation for the shift to waltz position.
On the following step, described as "step back on left foot and pose", do not make too deep a lunge, since there has to be a quick shift of weight back to the other foot (his right, her left) in preparation for the following draw step.
Reconstruction Notes
The only ambiguity is the lady's turn and the mutual courtesies, described as follows:
Disengage left hands, retaining hold of the right.
Lady turns away from partner, back toward partner, she making courtesy, he making bow, count 1, 2, 3, 4.
The lady is already turned away from her partner; during the grapevine she has her back to him as they move sideways along the line of dance. If she turns counter-clockwise toward him, he ends up with his right arm wrapped around her waist, which is an awkward position for a bow and curtsy. Having her turn clockwise leaves them facing, right hands joined, at an easy distance to do honors without colliding.
Yale position is not specified for the final walk around each other, but it's the only way the original instructions ("Partners move around each other in four short, running steps, count 1, 2, 3, 4.") work.
Videos (added 4/13/2019, 12/14/2022, 7/31/2023)
I taught this reconstruction a number of times in eastern Europe, where it has proved popular.
Here's a video of some Russian dancers performing this reconstruction at a ball in Vladimir, Russia, on December 16, 2018:
And another from Vladimir on March 30, 2019:
;
Here are dancers in Kyiv, Ukraine, performing it at the Dance and Play Mafia Party on July 4, 2021:
And dancers performing it at the Steampunk Style Birthday Party of the Albion Historical Dance Studio in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on December 4, 2021:
Special thanks to Liana for patiently partnering me through the dance-testing and musical experiments!
Comments