Here's a quick pair of variations (well, a variation and an ornament) for the maxixe, both pulled from the maxixe descriptions in Albert Newman's Dances of to-day, published in Philadelphia in 1914.
I don't use Newman as a maxixe source all that often because he really only offers a pair of possible sequences, his own and one from another instructor in his studio. And he likes his body sway the opposite of the way I do it (toward the leading foot rather than away), so even if I were inclined to do his sequences, I'd be fighting muscle memory to do them in his style. But even a minor source like Newman provides a few useful flourishes here and there.
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First, an interesting dip or, more accurately, a lunge. It adds a little spice to the maxixe without any need for turning or changes of arm position. It is easy to perform, but I would not consider it leadable unless the lady already knows the move.
How that actually breaks down, in counts, for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite:
1&2 Forward along line of dance, slide-close-slide (left-right-left)
3 Long step forward on right foot, bending the knee
& Rising, cut with the left foot, sending the right leg lightly forward and the foot up
4 Tap the heel of the right foot on the floor (weight remains on left foot)
1&2 Forward along line of dance, slide-close-slide (right-left-right)
3 Long step forward on left foot, bending the knee
& Rising, cut with the right foot, sending the left leg lightly forward and the foot up
4 Tap the heel of the left foot on the floor (weight remains on right foot)
The mnemonic is "1-and-2, dip-cut-heel, 1-and-2, dip-cut-heel".
Performance notes for the "dip":
- It is really better described as a lunge. The downward motion is more a natural consequence of the long step forward than a deliberate dip.
- Don't go very far down if the music is fast, because you have to bounce back up again very quickly.
- The gentleman should be careful to keep his torso upright and left arm firm on the initial dip/lunge step, rather than bending forward and pushing the lady downward. It's scary to feel like the gentleman is trying to send you face-down onto the dance floor!
Style note: Newman doesn't push the famous maxixe "heel lead" throughout his sequence, and his polka (really a two-step) forward, as described, doesn't specifically call for it. The move is equally interesting with or without. The shift from the heel tap to the heel lead forward on the next polka step is easy, but changing from a heel tap to a toe lead adds interesting variety to the dance. Unless one wants to specifically follow Newman's style, I don't have a problem dancing it either way.
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As noted above, this variation is not very leadable unless the lady is familiar with it; the cut can't be easily cued completely cold. What can be led with a good partner, however, is the polka-plus-lunge combination with the heel tap but without the cut:
1&2 Forward along line of dance, slide-close-slide (left-right-left)
3 Long step forward on right foot, bending the knee
& Rise, shifting weight back to left foot
4 Tap the heel of the right foot on the floor (weight remains on left foot)
1&2 Forward along line of dance, slide-close-slide (right-left-right)
3 Long step forward on left foot, bending the knee
& Rise, shifting weight back to right foot
4 Tap the heel of the left foot on the floor (weight remains on right foot)
The lady won't get the first heel tap, but she might pick it up on the repeat, or with another time through the sequence. This isn't quite as much fun or as perfectly-documentable as Newman's full version with the cut, but it fits within the general style of the maxixe and can be added on the fly. The illustration at left, taken from Troy and Margaret Kinney's Social Dancing of To-day (New York, 1914) shows a couple demonstrating a similar dip. The Kinneys do not give any description of the mechanics.
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The second bit from Newman, too short to warrant a separate post, is actually pulled from the end of the sequence by his studio instructor, Fred W. Sutor, and consists simply of adding an extra "heel" to a the turning two-step. Sutor (via Newman) gives this as a variation for the couple doing a turning step while facing each other with crossed hands overhead, but there is no reason it can't simply be added to the two-step in any maxixe hold, turning or not.
The rhythm of it:
1 Left foot forward
& Close right foot
2 Left foot forward
& Tap the right heel out to the side
Repeat, leading with the right foot.
These are the gentleman's steps, the lady dancing opposite as usual. The only difficulty is the speed; even with gently-paced maxixe music, the tap has to be done quickly. And when turning, the turn needs to be completed on the "2" as usual, with the heel tap done pointing along the line of dance. Both speed and turn will take just a little practice.
Style note: once again, Newman's descriptions do not call for a heel lead throughout. But in this case, because the heel tap has to be done quickly, it goes slightly more smoothly with a heel lead than a toe lead.
Musicality note: Sutor-via-Newman includes the added heel-tap on eight consecutive measures of turn. I personally find that it's a rare piece of maxixe music that is really improved by that much extra tapping (which can be quite noisy with hard shoes), and that in general it's better to use it more sparingly, as an accent for just a few measures (depending on one's music) before returning to the unadorned two-step.
Special thanks to Irene and Margarita for dance-testing assistance!
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