The Exeter Caprice is one of a small number of schottisches and schottische-like dances included in the second edition of F. Leslie Clendenen's 1914 compilation, Dance Mad, for which Clendenen solicited dances from dancing masters across the United States and in Europe and South America. One of those who responded was George F. Walters. The Dance Mad index of dancing masters lists him as based in Waltham, Massachusetts, about sixty miles south of Exeter, New Hampshire, and the famous Phillips Exeter Academy, more commonly known just as "Exeter". I suspect that Walters' Exeter Caprice and Exeter Waltz might be named for the school, either because he taught dance there or because he hoped to.
While the classic schottische seems to decline in popularity towards the end of the nineteenth century, dances in schottische time still turn up on dance cards and in dance manuals under names such as gavotte, caprice, barn dance, and five-step. It's not clear to me what choreographic or musical trait, if any, distinguishes a caprice from a schottische, but I have found more than a dozen examples of them on New England dance cards from the mid-1880s into the 1890s. "Caprice" on a dance card might refer specifically to the mazurka-like Caprice (or Caprice Schottische) described by M. B. Gilbert in Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) or to one of the occasional named caprices. Or perhaps "caprice" was simply another term for a schottische, as implied by sheet music such as the 1906 "The Famous Princess Royal", shown at left, that listed both dances.
The two-volume posthumous set Gilbert Dances, published in 1913, included two caprice couple dances (the Ideal Caprice and the Harvard Caprice) as well as five others meant more as school recital pieces. The Exeter Caprice is in the same tradition as these other 1910s schottisches-in-all-but-name. It consists of four bars of music, the standard length for a schottische step-sequence, repeated for a total of eight bars, leading alternately with each foot in standard turning dance style.
The dancers begin the Exeter Caprice in normal closed position, the gentleman facing the wall and the lady facing the center of the room. Steps below are given for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite. Each bar consists of four beats, generally four steps except as noted.
Exeter Caprice (eight bars of schottische)
1b Step left to side (1)
Close right to 5th position behind and step left to side (chassé) (2&)
Close right to 5th position in front (3)
Point left to side without weight (4), inclining body to the left
1b Repeat
(both dancers turn to face line of dance)
1b Step forward left, right (1, 2)
(gentleman swings in front of his partner to step straight back on 3)
Waltz-galop, half-turn (3&4)
(dancers are facing each other, gentleman facing the center and lady the wall)
1b Step right to side ("over elbows") (1)
Close right to 5th behind (2)
Step right to side (3)
Close right without weight to 5th behind (4)
4b Repeat all of the above, starting "over elbows" with the right foot and completing the turn
Performance and Reconstruction Notes
The reconstruction of the dance is basically straightforward other than Walters' omitting to mention that the final close must be without weight if one is to recommence on that foot.
The little chassé on "2&" in the first measure is slightly unintuitive (most chassés initiate on "&") as is the final touch of the foot without weight on beat 4, but neither are terribly difficult once dancers are familiar with the sequence. I would suggest making a little chant of the sequence to help with learning the unusual rhythm: "side, close-and-close, point; side, close-and-close, point; walk, walk, half-a-turn; side, close, side, close" or similar.
I interpret the waltz-galop in the third bar as the "new waltz" in 2/4 time described in Gilbert's Round Dancing in 1890 and by me here, but in its gentler gliding version, in keeping with the rest of the sequence: a step straight backward/forward along line of dance (fourth position), a side step along line of dance (second position), and a close of the feet. The gentleman needs to get a bit ahead of the lady on the preceding two forward walking steps in order to be able to easily swing into position to step backward on count three. On the repeat, the gentleman needs to allow the lady to outpace him and guide her into position for a clean step backward. Failure to set up correctly will result in a step to second position instead of fourth.
At only eight bars, the Exeter Caprice occupies a border area; it could reasonably be intended as either a sequence dance for performance by all couples in unison (supported by its having specific music; see below) or a step-sequence that can be varied at will. In the second case, it would be possible to switch to reverse turns by guiding the lady in front of the gentleman on the two walking steps on the first iteration so that she can leap backward on her right foot in the waltz-galop, but I would not try it unless/until the overall pattern of the sequence is firmly established with a series of natural turns first. It is much easier to cue the lady into a waltz-galop if the gentleman leaps backward and pulls her along rather than leaping forward and trying to push her into it.
Music
The intended tune is listed as " 'Dainty Step' Caprice". I would guess that this is a reference to Henry Lamb's composition, "Dainty Step. Caprice Dance", which was published by the Oliver Ditson company in Boston, quite local to Walters in Waltham, and copyrighted in 1891. I have not been able to find a copy of the sheet music for "Dainty Step", but there is nothing in the dance that particularly requires a specific tune. Any schottische tune will work.
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