"If you wish to spin you must do so on the slow step, continuing forward on the last two counts." -- from Modern Dancing by Vernon & Irene Castle, 1914
One of the basic half and half steps which I did not cover in my long-ago post on basic traveling steps for the dance was the pivot turn, as distinct from turning waltz in half and half time. There aren't all that many sources for half and half, so it's mildly (very mildly) significant that this step is mentioned three different times. There's the Castles' succinct description quoted above. There's a mention of it in a list of steps, or possibly a choreography, where it is given without any detail as "No. 3. pivot turn, right and left, 8 measures." (from "Half and Half" by J. E. Miles, in Dance Mad or the Dances of the Day, 2nd edition, F. Leslie Clendenen (editor), 1914.) And there's a full description as part of a mini-sequence which doesn't actually work. Here's the relevant part:
THE PIVOT TURN is made by stepping L. to side. C. 1.
Pivot 1/2 on ball of L. C. 2. 3. Walk forward. 4. 5.
(from "Half and Half" as taught by Castle Assistants, in Dance Mad or the Dances of the Day, 2nd edition, F. Leslie Clendenen (editor), 1914.)
The pivot turn itself is straightforward enough. As given in the Castle Assistants description, the dancers are in normal closed ballroom hold. The gentleman has his back to the line of dance and the lady is facing line of dance. Using the same technique as in traveling turns, the gentleman steps sideways to the left, perpendicular to the line of dance, while the lady steps straight forward with her right foot between his feet. They pivot on the first beat of the measure to make a half-turn (taking up counts 1-2-3), leaving the gentleman facing forward and the lady backward. He then walks forward two steps (counts 4-5) while she walks backward. The turn can then be repeated with the lady stepping sideways with her left foot and the gentleman forward with his right foot for the pivot. The mnemonic is "pivot......walk, walk".
As noted above, this is distinct from the waltz in half and half and the two should not be blurred together. In the pivot turn, the gentleman steps to the side (second position) and the first step is a full 180-degree pivot while the last two steps are straight forward along line of dance. In the waltz, the gentleman steps straight backward (fourth position), though at a slight angle to the wall, turning about a quarter, and the last two steps are a side step (completing the turn) and a close of the feet. The pivot turn takes more energy than the waltz, since all the spin comes on the first step, and ends in an open position. For the lady, the first step is almost indistinguishable; the difference between "right foot forward, between his feet" (pivot turn) and "right foot forward, straight toward him but slightly offset" (waltz) is more in where he puts his foot than where she puts hers; either way, she is stepping straight forward. The gentleman must make it very clear on the last two steps whether he is asking her to dance two steps straight backward (pivot turn) or do a side-close (waltz).
Now, about the mini-sequence given by the Castle Assistants. Here's the whole thing:
THE PIVOT TURN is made by stepping L. to side. C. 1.
Pivot 1/2 on ball of L. C. 2. 3. Walk forward. 4. 5. Both face line of direction and make 1 half step forward. C. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Repeat the pivot, starting with R. foot. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Repeat the half step forward, both facing line of direction. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 8 bars in all.
The basic problem is that there are two "half steps" (defined in the same description as three steps taken on 1, 4, and 5) in succession: the pivot turn and the forward step (promenade). Each "half step" incorporates three steps. That puts the dancers back on their first foot again, which for the gentleman is his left foot. This means it is impossible to "Repeat the pivot, starting with R. foot" because the right foot is not free.
The easiest fix is to assume that it is the left foot that was meant, instead of the right, and the gentleman should just swing in front of the lady at the end of the "half step" forward so he can step sideways across line of dance on the first beat of the third measure. That makes the sequence "pivot......walk, walk; forward......forward, forward". On the last step of each odd-numbered bar, the dancers swing a quarter round so that both are facing line of dance and can go straight forward on the even-numbered bars. The gentleman should stay a bit ahead and the lady hang back slightly on the side-by-side forward steps to better prepare for the pivot turn.
The J. E. Miles list calls for pivot turns to both the right and left. It's impossible to switch directly from turning one way to turning the other; there has to be an intervening bar of "pursuit" (see the traveling steps post) to get the correct foot free. The eight measures of pivot turns right and left called for by Miles could be done as "pivot turn, pursuit, reverse pivot turn, pursuit; repeat". But they could also be done fairly easily using the forward steps of the Castle Assistants sequence instead. On the forward steps, the gentleman should hang back a little and guide the lady slightly ahead of him. Then on the pivot turn, instead of stepping across the line of dance with his left foot, he steps straight along the line of dance while guiding the lady to step across it (in reverse) with her right foot for a reverse pivot. This is not particularly difficult as long as the gentleman remembers to prepare for it in advance; it won't work at all if the lady is lagging behind the gentleman on the forward steps.
Pivot turns work nicely mixed with the "backing the lady/gent" and promenade (forward) steps described in my review of basic traveling steps for the half and half. All steps are straight along the line of dance except for a single step by one dancer when pivoting. It's more challenging to mix pivot steps with waltz steps (turning to the right or left or non-turning "pursuit"), but they can also provide a useful escape from a failing waltz. If the turning waltz is not working well and the dancers are not angled correctly for a step straight forward/backward along the line of dance on the first beat, turn that step into a pivot step instead. A step to second tends to happen naturally when the waltz is failing and the dancers are trying to recover. Instead of trying to make that step to fourth, accept the step to second by the dancer whose back is to line of dance and add some vigor to it to make it into a pivot. This is actually easier than trying to increase the amount of turn enough to take a clean waltz step.
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