Just to be thorough, here's a quick reconstruction of the Wayside Gavotte I mentioned in my previous post on the Stephanie Gavotte. This is another short couple dance sequence, but unlike M. B. Gilbert's Stephanie Gavotte, it moves normally along line of dance throughout and loosely follows a "doubled" schottische pattern with four bars of forward travel and four bars (more-or-less) of turning. Though it is meant to be danced to "Stéphanie-Gavotte", there is no reason it can't be danced to other schottische music.
Per Gilbert Dances, Vol. II (1913, Susan Hoffman Gilman, ed.), the Wayside Gavotte was choreographed by Helen C. Way, whom I presume to have been a student of Gilbert's. It is undated, and since, according to the biography in Gilbert Dances, Vol. I, Gilbert was teaching until his death, it could be from as late as the beginning of 1910. The use of the waltz-galop step feels to me more reminiscent of the schottische sequences of the 1880s-1890s, however, so I suspect it is from closer to 1900.
The starting position for the dance is side by side holding inside hands (though see note below). The gentleman starts on the left foot, the lady on the right. The gentleman's steps are given below; the lady dances opposite.
Wayside Gavotte (eight bars of 4/4 to "Stéphanie-Gavotte")
12 Step forward left (1) and close right to fifth raised behind, bending knees (2)
34 Step back right (3) and gently beat left foot against front of right calf, toe down (4)
12 Step forward left (1) and cut with right foot, raising left to fourth in front (2)
34 Step onto left (3) and sweep right around to gently beat against front of left calf, toe down (4)
12 Step forward right (1) and close left to fifth raised behind, bending knees (2)
34 Step back left (3) and gently beat right foot against front of left calf, toe down (4)
12 Step forward right (1) and cut with left foot, raising right to fourth in front (2)
34 Step onto right (3) and sweep left around to gently beat against right heel in first position (4) while turning to face lady
1&2 3&4 Waltz-galop along line of dance, turning away from partner then to face partner, taking normal closed position
12 34 Slide left to side, close right; repeat, moving in front of the lady, back to line of dance
1&2 3&4 One complete turn of waltz-galop
1&2 3&4 Another complete turn of waltz-galop, opening up to side by side at the end to restart
Performance and Reconstruction Notes
1. The starting position is given as "Open position", which is not a term Gilbert used. The most likely interpretation is side-by-side with the gentleman's right arm on the lady's back and her left hand on his shoulder. That works nicely for the first four bars, but makes the waltz-galop turning away from each other somewhat awkward, as the inside feet need to swing forward and around very quickly and the dancers' arms are nestled together and must be quickly separated. It's also awkward to try to regain this position when flipping back to face each other. Gilbert generally described this opening position with the words "as in Military Schottische", and holding hands side by side "as Berlin". Since Way used neither phrase and Gilman neglected to define "open position" in the glossary, there's no way of knowing for certain. I favor holding hands simply to make the fifth bar work more easily.
2. The little beating steps are described simply as "beat left in front raised" and "beat right in front, raised"; the specifics are my best interpretation. The final beat into first position is also somewhat speculative; the beat is described in the initial part of the sequence, and for the repeat on the second foot, the instruction is simply "facing partner with heels together on last count".
3. The waltz-galop is described in detail here. In the fifth bar, the dancers leap forward on the outside foot (1), turn outward so as to be back-to-back and slide the inside foot along line of dance (&), and cut with the outside foot (2) (the "&" slide here is the one that is awkward from a "Military Schottische" hold). They then leap forward along line of dance with the inside foot (3), turning back toward their partner, slide the outside foot along the line of dance (&), and cut with the inside foot (4), taking normal closed hold for the following slides. The away-together-slide-slide sequence in bars five and six is exactly the same as the beginning of the famous Veleta Waltz.
Music
As noted, the intended tune is the Alphons Czibulka's popular "Stéphanie-Gavotte", but the Wayside Gavotte can also be danced to any standard schottische. I recommend a tempo between 60 and 70 beats per minute; it needs to be played slowly enough to manage the waltz-galop, particularly the individually-turned bars which whip back and forth from left to right or right to left, but not so slowly that the waltz-galop feels lethargic. Links to a video and recording of the "Stéphanie-Gavotte" may be found in my previous post.
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