(This is second in a series of four posts covering Paine's Twelfth Set. The introductory post in the series may be found here.)
All right, let's move on to the actual figures! In my transcriptions below of the French and English instructions, the capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and lack of accents over the French vowels are all as printed in the original.
No. 1, tune "La Belle Flamand"
Figure de la Pantalon -- or
Quatre demie chaine Anglaise, les 4 autres demie chaine Anglaise, demie Promenade tous les 8, et tour de mains a votre place, chaine des dames celles qui ont commencez [sic], balancez 8 et tour de mains.
Contre Partie.
Four half right and left, the other four the same, half Promanade [sic] all 8 to your place and turn your partners round, Ladies chain by those who began the dance, balance 8 and turn your partners round.
The same again the other 4.
Figure 1: 8b introduction + 32b x2
Music: A=8b, B=8b, C=8b, to be played A+(BACAx2)
4b Demi-chaîne anglaise (head couples half right and left)
4b Demi-chaîne anglaise (side couples half right and left)
4b Demi-promenade (all eight promenade halfway around to places)
4b Tour de mains (all eight turn partners by two hands)
8b Chaîne des dames entière (head couples ladies chain)
8b Balancez et tour de mains (all eight balance 4b then turn partners by two hands)
(Repeat all of the above with the side couples leading)
This is a nice variation on the standard Pantalon figure, with all the same elements, but rearranged so that all four couples participate during each repetition.
There are no problems with the overall sequence of the figures, the music, or the Green Ginger recording. But this is one of the figures where Rogers uses right-hand turns for both of the tour de mains figures where I choose a two-hand turn. For the one at the very end of the figure, this is purely a matter of what each of us defaults to, and we're just not going to agree on that. I follow English dancing masters including Thomas Wilson and G. M. S. Chivers, who are both quite clear that a tour de mains is a two-hand turn unless a particular hand is specified.
The earlier tour de mains is a bit more arguable. For me, it comes down to whether the dancers drop hands between figures or not. Whether at the end of every single figure both dancers should be facing the center of the set and separated, not holding hands, is an interesting argument in and of itself -- both whether that was what was taught by dancing masters and whether it was actually practiced. My experience is that it is not strictly practiced by dancers today.
Whether they end facing each other or the center, if the dancers drop hands completely at the end of the travel in the promenade, I have no hesitation about using a two-hand turn. But if they still have "promenade hands", meaning right in right and left in left, then it would in fact be much smoother to keep the right hand for a right-hand turn rather than drop hands and take them differently. (Just keeping crossed hands for the turn seems like a simple solution, but I find it awkward to turn the lower body with both hands crossed, and I've no evidence of it as a period practice.)
The decisive factor for me in this case was that the immediately following figure is a chaîne des dames. That works nicely from a two-hand turn; whether they keep hands or not, the lady naturally opens up to face inward as they finish the turn. With a right-hand turn that is...not as smooth. And if the dancers end up facing each other from a right hand turn, they will tend to be slightly offset to their own lefts, which is a terrible position from which to start a chaîne des dames.
If I were going to keep one hand to do this turn, I'd favor keeping the left one, which would flow spectacularly well into the chaîne des dames. If I were writing a modern dance, that's certainly how I'd do it. But I just can't justify putting left turns into a Regency quadrille under most circumstances if they are not specifically called for. So two hands it is. The dancers need to make sure they drop hands by the jeté, assemblé at the end of the promenade, though I would have them stay facing each other rather than turn to face the center and then flip back immediately for the tour de mains.
Steps: All the figures except the balancez should be danced with three chassé; jeté, assemblé; the chaîne des dames entière uses that sequence done twice. For the balancez the steps may be chosen at the discretion of each individual dancer; I've described a few possibilities here, here, and here.
A music note: this is not the same tune as the French contredanse (cotillon) tune "La Belle Flamand" attributed to M. Julien (possibly Louis-Julien Clarchies). Apparently pretty Flemish women abounded!
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No. 2, tune "La Tambour de la Garde"
Figure De L'Ete -- or
En avant 4 et en arriere, demie chaine Anglaise, chassez croisez 4 et dechassez, en avant 4 et en arriere, demie chaine Anglaise à vos places.
Les 4 autres de mêmes.
Four advance and retire, half right and left, chassez croisez four and back again, four advance and retire, and half right and left to their places.
The same the other 4.
Figure 2: 8b introduction + 24b x2
Music: A=8b, B=16b, to be played A+(BAx2) (see notes below)
4b En avant quatre et en arrière (head couples forward and back)
4b Demi chaîne anglaise (head couples half right and left)
8b Chassé-croisé quatre (head couples chassez-croisez)
4b En avant quatre et en arrière (head couples forward and back)
4b Demi chaîne anglaise (head couples half right and left)
(Side couples repeat all of the above)
This is another clever variation on the standard figure. Instead of two dancers opposite each other going forward and back, crossing over, and chassez-dechassez-ing, it's done in pairs, which means all four dancers in the head couples are involved throughout. Instead of a simple four-bar chassé-croisé performed twice, there is one appearance of the more elaborate eight-bar version. The only thing that is lost is the final tour de mains, abandoned in favor of a second en avant figure.
The figure reconstruction here is quite straightforward and matches the music structure nicely. The only issue is that the instructions strongly suggest that it is danced only twice, once each for the head and side couples. This is in keeping with Regency-era practice which would not require identical repeats of the same figure. But the Green Ginger recording is played four times through, which is lovely for the original Été figure but does not fit this one. If everyone is dancing this specific set with live musicians, or one is willing to edit the recording, that's not a problem. If one is dancing to an unedited recording or dancing these figures in a ballroom where everyone else is dancing the customary figures, one will have to tolerate the annoying repetitiveness of having the heads dance exactly the same thing twice and then the sides dance exactly the same thing twice. Rogers suggests having head and side couples alternate, but I feel that was more typical of the late nineteenth century.
Steps: The chaîne anglaise is discussed above. For the en avant et en arrière figures, some possible sequences are given here; couples should hold hands and match their steps. For the chassé-croisé, which is a full chassez - balancez - dechassez - balancez sequence, the steps may be chosen at the discretion of each individual dancer or couple; some documented sequences are given here, here, and here.
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Next: figures three and four!
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