This one-step sequence appears in the second edition of F. Leslie Clendenen's 1914 compilation, Dance Mad. It is titled simply "One Step" with the attribution "by E. Clarence Rothard". Rothard is listed in the thank-you credits in the back of the second edition, but his location is not given and a cursory search has not turned up any specific information about him. An "Edna Rothard Passapae" was teaching dance in Newark, New Jersey, by at least 1918 and might have been the daughter of E. Clarence, since it was not unusual for daughters to follow their parents as dance teachers. But even if she was, that doesn't necessarily mean that E. Clarence Rothard was also based in New Jersey.
Rothard's one-step is quite a lengthy sequence. There are eight separate sections of the dance, some of which are repeated. The overall pattern of the dance segments is ABCCDEFGHDH, each letter representing four bars of 2/4 music (eight beats) for a 44-bar (88-beat) dance.
The specified tune is "Hungarian Rag" (left; click to enlarge), a popular 1913 composition by German-American composer Julius Lenzberg adapted from Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies. The piece is still well-known; period recordings of it may be found here and here, and a modern version here. The sheet music is available online at the Charles Templeton Sheet Music Collection of Mississippi State University.
The sheet music is notated as 16b (repeated), 16b (repeated), 20b, 16b, and 16b. How exactly this is supposed match up with a 44b dance is an interesting question, but since the dance is broken into four-bar units, one can make it fit by adding another repeat of one of the 16b strains for a total of 132 bars, which allows for three times through the dance.
The starting position for the dance is a normal closed ballroom hold, the gentleman facing line of dance and the lady with her back to line of dance. The gentleman starts on the left foot and the lady on the right. The steps below are given for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite.
Rothard's One-Step (88 beats)
A 1-8 Walk forward seven steps starting L; on 8 cross right behind with a slight dip (lady crosses L in front)
B 1-8 Repeat
C 123 Three steps forward in left Yale position (left side to left side) (LRL)
456 Three steps forward in right Yale position (RLR)
781 Three steps in left Yale position turning as a couple counter-clockwise halfway (LRL)
(turn individually to take right Yale position and face line of dance)
234 Three steps forward in right Yale position (RLR)
567 Three steps forward in left Yale position (LRL)
8 Move right foot forward 3", closing up slightly and placing weight on right foot
D 12 Two steps turning individually halfway to the left (LR)
3 Point left foot back
4 Pivot halfway to the right on right foot, gentleman facing line of dance again
5678 Walk forward (LRLR)
E 1-8 Repeat
F 12 Walk forward LR
345 Slide sideways slide-close-slide-close-slide (3&4&5) leading with left foot
(pivot counter-clockwise halfway on final step)
678 Slide sideways (6&7&8) leading with right foot
(pivot clockwise on final step)
G 1-8 Repeat
H 1-6 Grapevine: side L, cross R in front, side L, cross R in back, side L, cross R in front
(lady: side R, cross L behind, side R, cross L in front, side R, cross L behind)
7-8 Point left toward wall, rising on balls of feet (7) and shift weight back to right foot (8)
(lady continues to grapevine two more steps to move in front of the gentleman again)
D 12 Two steps turning individually halfway to the left (LR)
3 Point left foot back
4 Pivot halfway on right foot, facing partner, gentleman facing line of dance again
5678 Walk forward (LRLR)
H 1-6 Grapevine: side L, cross R in front, side L, cross R in back, side L, cross R in front
(lady: side R, cross L behind, side R, cross L in front, side R, cross L behind)
7-8 Point left toward wall, rising on balls of feet (7) and shift weight back to right foot (8)
(lady continues to grapevine two more steps to move in front of the gentleman again)
Performance Notes
None of the individual parts of the sequence are terribly difficult; the only challenge is remembering them all.
On part C, keep enough distance between partners to easily manage the initial cross of the feet on the first of every three steps. The half-turn as a couple to the left must be performed aggressively for the dancers to manage to switch to left Yale position and turn halfway as a couple in only three steps. The turn is then completed individually, rather like in a pomander walk, to put the couple in right Yale position with the gentleman facing line of dance.
The side-slides in F and G are treated as a "tossacross", with the lady crossing in front of the gentleman (half-turn counter-clockwise), rather than a "turning galop" with the gentleman crossing in front of the lady (clockwise).
At the end of parts F and G (sideways slide, gentleman leading with the right foot), the final step (count 8) must be a pivot: the lady steps left across the gentleman while he steps right between her feet. This will be a quarter-pivot after F, to leave the gentleman facing line of dance again, but a half-pivot after G to put the gentleman's left side to line of dance to start the grapevine.
At the end of H, the gentleman stops moving while the lady continues with two more grapevine steps (side right, cross left in front) moving counter-clockwise around him to place her back to line of dance ready to back up in the repeat of the D part or (the second time) to restart from the beginning. He should set these final steps up by allowing her to get slightly ahead of him on steps five and six.
On the last repeat of the sequence, I would suggest making the final step of H a lunge (gentleman stepping backward on his right foot and the lady forward, directly toward him, on her left) for a more conclusive and interesting ending.
Reconstruction Notes
Most of the instructions are straightforward, with the only problem being smoothing out the transitions. The one enormous exception is in C, which reads, in part:
Walk to the left of lady. L. R. C. 7-8
Step on left foot, making full turn to right and changing to right side of lady. C. 1.
Walk forward to right of lady. R. L. R. C. 2-3-4.
That just does not work; it's physically impossible from left Yale position to step on the left foot and make a full turn to the right, either individually or as a couple, in one beat, not to mention simultaneously switching to right Yale position and leaving the gentleman facing forward again!
After a lot of experimentation, the solution that does the least violence to the original instructions while actually being danceable seems to be to start the turn two beats early and turn to the left (counter-clockwise) instead of right, turning halfway as a couple as in a pomander walk (putting the gentleman's back to line of dance and the lady facing line of dance), then continuing with a further half-turn individually, which adds up to a "full turn" and leaves the dancers in the correct position for the following counts 2-3-4. Mixing up right and left is a common error in dance instructions.
As noted above, I interpret the slides in F and G as shifting the lady back and forth rather than doing a turning galop step, but that's certainly an arguable decision and the turning galop style works just as well.
Special thanks to Christina and Irene for enduring all the experiments!
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