H. Layton Walker's Grand Scotch Chain, published in Twentieth Century Cotillion Figures, by (Two Step Publishing Company, Buffalo, New York, 1912), is only moderately interesting as a figure, but tracing its progress from a figure that was neither "grand" nor "Scotch" when it started out is an interesting illustration of how cotillion figures were transmitted across time and international borders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The figure itself is quite simple:
- Two couples separate and select new partners
- They form a four-couple quadrille set
- Head gentlemen turn by right elbows once and a half round, then give left elbows to opposite ladies and turn to place with her
- Side gentlemen repeat
- Head ladies repeat
- Side ladies repeat
- All take partners and waltz
Not mentioned is that the two couples probably danced at the beginning before separating. As is usual with cotillion figures, the music might be waltz or, for the early 1910s, two-step. The timing of the figure is not given, but I would suggest allowing a generous eight bars for each of the four figures rather than trying to squeeze a turn and a half plus at least a half-turn into four. It's easier to stretch the figures out than rush them that much. This makes it a thirty-two bar figure, not counting the setup and the final waltz (or whatever).
Here's Walker's language:
GRAND SCOTCH CHAIN.
Two couples. Each lady selects a gentleman, and each gentleman a lady, and all form as for a Quadrille; the two gentlemen at the head advance, lock right arms, swing once and a half round, when they disengage, giving left arm to the opposite lady’s left arm, and remain on that side of the set; the side gentlemen do the same. The two ladies at the head cross over in the same manner; side ladies do the same; all waltz.
Like some of Walker's other figures, this one appeared in Allen Dodworth's Dancing and its relations to education and social life in editions from the first in 1885 all the way to 1913. But it wasn't called Grand Scotch Chain. Instead it was...Hungarian!
No. 24. Hungarian Chain.
Two couples—Each lady and gentleman selects another partner and all form as for the Lancers; the two gentlemen at the head advance rapidly, lock right arms, swing once and a half round, when they disengage, giving left arm to the opposite lady’s left arm, and remaining on that side of the set; the side gentlemen do the same; the two ladies at the head cross over in the same manner; side ladies do the same; all waltz.
The only difference in language here is whether they form as for the Lancers (a quadrille mandating four couples) or just for a Quadrille (which, early on, was often danced by two couples only, but by 1912 was generally performed by four) and, of course, the switch from "Hungarian" to "Grand Scotch".
Why this particular form of chain (basically, a "gentlemen chain" followed by a "ladies chain", using elbows instead of hands) qualifies as either Hungarian or "Scotch" is completely unclear to me; I personally think it looks French. And, interestingly, I'm not completely wrong. There's a French source from which Dodworth may have drawn the figure:
133
LA CHAINE HONGROISE
Quatre couples se placent comme pour le quadrille croisé; deux cavaliers vis-à-vis l’un de l’autre avancent se donnant le bras droit croisé à la saignée et font un tour et demi sur place, puis ils se séparent et vont faire un tour de bras gauche avec la dame de vis-à-vis; pendant ce temps les deux cavaliers de la contre-partie exécutent la même tour de bras droit et le même tour de bras gauche avec la dame de leur vis-à-vis; ensuite vient le tour des dames qui font la même figure pour aller retrouver leurs cavaliers; on termine par un tour de valse, puis chacun retourne à sa place.
This comes from F. Paul's Le cotillon et les quadrilles actuels traité théorique et pratique (Paris, 1877), which takes it both back in time and across the Atlantic. Allowing for translation, it is, once again, virtually the same wording. In this description, the dancers form as for the quadrille croisé, which again emphasizes the need for four couples, and there's a bit at the end about each dancer returning to his or her place after the waltz. Otherwise, it's basically word-for-word, at least if one allows for the colorful French term, la saignée, literally "the bleeding", but actually meaning the elbow, that being where one is bled!
I haven't turned up any other sources for this figure in French or English under either its "Hongroise" or "Scotch" incarnations, but it's quite possible the figure is even older than 1877. Many oft-reprinted cotillion figures (though apparently not this one) date all the way back to the 1840s and Cellarius' Les Danses des Salons.
With only eight dancers participating at a time, this is going to be a fairly slow-paced figure for a large party or ball, though at least it's only repeated once per set. If one's dancers know the figure or are quick on the uptake when listening to a caller, one could bend historical tradition a bit and run multiple sets to speed things up, particularly if it's being used as the final figure in a cotillion.
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