"Humming Bird Dance" is a hesitation waltz sequence which appeared in the first and second editions of F. Leslie Clendenen's compilation Dance Mad (St. Louis; both editions 1914). It is attributed to "Mr. Menancon", who appears in the list of credits at the end of the second edition as "Elmond Menancon, 909 Elm Street, Manchester, N[ew] H[ampshire]". I believe the first name ought to be "Edmond", since a dancing master of that name is listed in Manchester city directories from 1906 and 1918. In the 1906 Manchester Directory, Edmond Menancon is listed separately as an artist, dancing master, and, interestingly, the sexton of a church. Here's Menancon's advertisement from page 819 of the 1906 directory:
The sexton position seems a somewhat odd fit for an artist-photographer-dance teacher; the triple career doesn't seem to leave much time for a day job. Perhaps it was his father?
In the 1918 residential directory, as transcribed here, he is listed as an "artist/teacher [of] dancing" having "rms" (presumably "rooms") at 318 Pearl.
The Humming Bird Dance itself is a sixteen-bar sequence done in "one-step waltz" style, one step (sometimes with embellishments) per bar of waltz music. The instructions in Dance Mad list it as for "Any waltz music." Whichever piece is used, it will need to be at a fast hesitation waltz tempo, or the dance will drag.
To start, both dancers face line of dance, the gentleman behind and to the left of the lady. The lady's right arm makes a semi-circle so that her right hand is over her head, palm up. The gentleman takes the tips of her fingers with his own right hand. Left hands are joined and extended in front. This is referred to as "a la minuet", which would no doubt have startled dancers of the original minuet in the eighteenth century. Both dancers begin with the left foot.
The basic step is onto the toes with a slight dip. There is also a repeated three-beat sequence of stepping with a stronger dip (1), striking the free foot on the floor as it swings forward (2), and hopping while extending the free foot into fourth position forward (3). The latter will be listed below as a "step-strike-hop" for brevity.
Humming Bird Dance (sixteen bars of fast waltz music)
Part One (eight bars)
1 Forward left
2 Forward right
3 Step-strike-hop left
4 Forward right
5 Forward left
6 Step-strike-hop right
7 Step-strike-hop left
8 Step-strike-hop right
Part Two (eight bars)
1 (quarter-turn to right, facing wall) Left to second along line of dance
2 (quarter-turn to right, facing against line of dance) Right back along line of dance
(dancers' hands remain joined; the lady's left hand is now over her head instead of her right)
3 Left back along line of dance
4 Right back along line of dance
5 (quarter-turn to left, facing wall) Left to second along line of dance
6 (quarter-turn to left, facing line of dance) Step-strike-hop right
7 Step-strike-hop left
8 Step-strike-hop right
Performance Notes
On the turns in Part Two, the dancers turn individually, keeping their hands joined, with the lady's right hand coming down as they face the wall and the left hand coming up as they complete the half-turn. When they turn back, the same happens in reverse to bring her right hand up to its original position. This is quite natural; just let it happen.
Reconstruction Notes
This is a fairly simple reconstruction. The only really fuzzy point is whether once the dancers have turned halfway round in part two they continue walking backward in the third and fourth bars. The original instructions specify backward in the second bar but not in the following two. I've gone with the theory that this implies continuing backward, which I also feel makes for a smoother dance and one which is somewhat safer on the dance floor, since this interpretation means it always moves with line of dance, rather than against it.
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