The Puritan Waltz is not, actually, a waltz. It's a galop variation found in both Round Dancing (M. B. Gilbert, Portland, Maine, 1890) and La Danse (G. W. Lopp, Paris, 1903). Gilbert described it under the name The Puritan Waltz and also referenced it under The Jubilee. Lopp chose truth in advertising over adherence to the original and went with La Puritan Galop. The two descriptions match perfectly in the practical aspects, though Gilbert gets a little more poetic in naming the parts of the dance after...a whaling expedition? I feel like there must be some story behind a dance with parts called "The Calm", "The Fluke", and "The Gale", but I've no idea what it might be. Nantucket Puritans?
With a title like that, the first question that comes to mind is whether it's mis-listed or mis-described and really meant to be a waltz. It's not; the sheet music by George Fox (cover image at left; click to enlarge) is online at the Library of Congress, complete with dance instructions that are nearly a word-for-word match with Gilbert. It's nice to have an outside source for a Gilbert/Lopp-published dance; it doesn't happen as often as I'd like.
Per the sheet music, the dance is by E. Woodworth Masters, was published in 1885, and was accepted by the National Association of Teachers of Dancing. Gilbert and Lopp both duly credit Masters.
The music for "The Puritan Waltz" is interesting; I don't know whether music or dance came first, but they're clearly carefully matched. The music has a pattern of A (4b), B (4b), A (4b), B (4b), C (16b), which just happens to match the structure of the dance perfectly. A and B aren't broken out as separate strains, but the repeating pattern of the notes can be spotted even by a non-musician. The ABAB strain (the "Calm" and "Fluke" portions) is "Tempo di Galop"; the C strain (the "Gale") is "Piu mosso" (a little faster); the next ABAB set is "Tempo 1" and the next C strain is "Piu mosso" again. Lopp, who I suspect did not have the actual music, merely gives it as "2/4, Allegro".
Since the dance is cross-listed as "The Jubilee" in Gilbert, there may be another suitable piece of music out there, but I am not inspired enough by the dance to wade through the enormous quantity of surviving sheet music with "Jubilee" in its titles in search of it.
The dance itself is not at all complicated. It's a simple mix of slow march steps and waltz-galop, which is the "new" waltz step of the late nineteenth century done in galop rhythm ("leap-slide-cut" to 1&2 rather than 123). It's very commonly used in galop and schottische variations.
The sequence starts with the dancers in "military" position (described here), side by side, the lady on the right with the gentleman's right arm around her and her left hand resting on his right shoulder or arm. They maintain this position when marching and close into a normal hold for the waltz-galop sections, opening up to march again as necessary. The lady starts on the right foot and the gentleman on the left. The gentleman's steps are given below; the lady dances opposite.
The Puritan Waltz / The Jubilee / La Puritan Galop
4b "The Calm": four slow march steps, one to a measure
4b "The Fluke": four measures of waltz-galop
8b Repeat "The Calm" and "The Fluke"
8b "The Gale": sixteen measures of waltz-galop, reversing every four measures
The only reconstruction/performance issue is precisely when and how one shifts the direction of turn during "The Gale". My recommendation is to do every fourth measure more-or-less straight along line of dance to kill turning momentum, so the pattern is "three measures, turning, one measure straight" three times, ending with "three measures turning, one measure unfold" to begin the entire sequence side by side again. To "unfold", the gentleman releases the lady's hand after "1" and she continues more-or-less straight forward while the gentleman continues turning to the left to face line of dance.
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