The second and final post in my August cotillion mini-series, in which things get weird! The Birth of the Doves -- does that title not just fill one with fear? -- is taken from St. Louis dancing master Jacob Mahler's 1900 compilation Original Cotillion Figures. It was attributed to W. L. Curtis of Utica, New York. This is one of those cotillion figures that either awes or horrifies you with the amount of effort people went to to throw impressive parties in the late nineteenth century.
Interestingly, this cotillion has a specific piece of music: "The Dove's Return", by Fred T. Baker, which dates from around 1893, when it was published as #8725 in the long-running Musical Bouquet series of sheet music. A detail from the cover is at left; click to enlarge.
Given the music, the dance for this cotillion is obviously the waltz. The instructions note that this figure should be the last of the evening, and that the "spectacular effect" is beautiful.
It's certainly a spectacle.
The properties list gives one a good idea of how this figure was supposed to go:
- Twenty-four live doves, each dove's neck tied with red ribbon three-fourths of an inch wide, hanging about five inches after the bow is made.
- Canvas covered egg, large enough to comfortably hold all the doves (at least four and one-half feet high and three feet in diameter) egg must be made to fall apart at blow of hand or hammer
- At the bottom of the egg, imitation of strawberry favors; these favors covered by a thin white piece of cambric, upon which the doves are placed; as soon as the egg is opened, the cambric is quickly withdrawn by the leader.
This is the ballroom game version of four-and-twenty blackbirds, except that it's four-and-twenty doves with ribbon bows of oddly precise measurements around their necks, and they are in a giant canvas egg instead of a pie.
Fortunately, the dancers don't actually have to catch them.
Here's how it works:
- Half the dancers up and waltz; the egg is brought in
- Signal; couples separate, select new partners, and continue to dance
- Signal; form a grand circle around the room, ladies to the right of their partners
- Leader strikes egg, opening it; doves escape and fly around; leader pulls the cambric off the "imitation of strawberry" favors
- Gentlemen rush forward to select a strawberry favor
- Gentlemen present the favor to any lady and dance
There are some ambiguities in the instructions: what, exactly is an "imitation of strawberry" favor? Assuming the "of" is a mistake, perhaps it's a small fake strawberry? Or a strawberry leaf? Why ought the doves to be sitting on strawberries anyway? Or strawberry leaves, as the case may be?
And how, exactly, does the egg either stay together or fall apart at a single blow? Canvas does not crack or shatter. Presumably it is on some more solid framework under the canvas cover.
Frighteningly enough, it might still be possible to do this figure nowadays. One can actually rent doves (technically, white homing pigeons) for release at weddings, funerals, etc. There's a whole network of white-homing-pigeon professionals who do this. Google "white dove releases" or check out the fascinating FAQ here for typical details. I'm not sure how one would convince the doves to sit still to have little bows tied around their necks, or how one would manage giving them access to the outdoors (open windows?) since they are not supposed to be released indoors, but it doesn't seem completely impossible.
Making a functional egg and getting the doves into it are left as exercises for anyone who actually wants to attempt this and the rental-dove handler, whom one hopes is a well-paid professional.
Final words:
The effect of the doves flying about, while the guests are dancing, is a beautiful effect.
This figure should not be given where gas is used.
...or catches fire? asphyxiates? I'm not sure what the particular risk of putting gas and doves in the same room was, but presumably it was serious!
Comments