Who is Your Partner?

What would Halloween be without masks?  And what would a cotillion be without at least one figure where people blunder around blindly crashing into each other?

"Who is Your Partner?" is from St. Louis dancing master Jacob Mahler and appeared in Original Cotillion Figures (St. Louis, 1900), his collection of figures from himself and other dancing masters.  It is easy enough to run, but it does require props: 

A number of black masks, like those used in lodges, viz: those that have no eyes, in order to completely blindfold the wearer.

Here's how it goes:

The gentlemen are called to the center of the room, and made to join hands in a circle.  They are given the masks which they put on; they then join hands again and circle to the right; at signal from the leader, they let go hands, hunt for a lady (the ladies are in their regular seats) dance with her.  He is not to remove his mask until he calls the name of the lady with whom he is dancing. 

I believe the reference to lodges means that they are thinking of the eyeless masks known as "hoodwinks" which were used by Freemasons in their initiation rituals.  They range from simple black blindfolds to elaborate goggles with flip-up eye covers.  Here's an image of some styles from the 1909 DeMoulin Masonic Lodge Supply Catalog:

A Google Image search turns up quite a number of interesting photos of the fancier hoodwinks, many of which remind me of current Steampunk styles.  (This would be a great figure for a Steampunk-themed ball!)  Someone has even written a book on hoodwinks.  If the organizers don't want to shop, it would be easy enough to make simple masks on the model of the one at bottom left on the catalog page above.

I think the figure is self-explanatory.  The men put on masks and circle; the leader signals them and they wander blindly around the room searching for a lady to dance with.  This is almost as potentially problematic as the Rose Bush figure I've previously described, in that the ladies might get groped awkwardly, but at least it's less bloody, since there are no thorns involved. 

Once the gentlemen have found partners, it becomes a variant on the classic "Weak Leading the Blind" figure -- the couples dance while each gentleman tries to guess who his lady is, not removing the mask until he has successfully guessed.  Presumably the ladies do a bit of back-leading to avoid collisions...or perhaps those are part of the fun? 

Mahler suggests that to make the figure more "jolly", the ladies should disguise their dancing, "for sometimes it is easy to recognize the partner by their manner of dancing."  He also suggests darkening the room, which makes one suspect that he wasn't all that opposed to a few collisions!

The figure can be reversed to put the ladies in masks, but instead of seeking partners themselves, they remain decorously seated while the unblindfolded gentlemen seek them out.  The ladies must then dance blind until guessing their partner's names.  This version is much less hazardous (or less "jolly", if you prefer) since no one blunders around blind seeking a partner and the gentlemen can see to lead while dancing.  This may commend it to those who prefer their cotillions a bit safer or more sedate.

Waltz music is suggested for the figure.  If the gentlemen are blindfolded, for safety's sake, I would suggest something slow.