On Thursday, July 26th, 1917, as part of its annual conference, the British Association of Teachers of Dancing held a competition for "round dances", which in this context means couple sequences. The "first certificate" (winner) was "Maxina", by Madame Low Hurndall of London. The choreography was published in The Dancing Times in September, 1917 (issue numbered New Series No. 84) as well as with the sheet music for the dance, composed by Marguerite Boissonade and W. F. Hurndall (husband of the choreographer). The cover of my copy of the sheet music is shown at left; click to enlarge.
The Maxina spread quickly, and not only within the British Empire; there is also a 1917 French translation of this "nouvelle danse qui fait fureur a Londres" online at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Sequence dances, however, were not considered quite as à la mode as regular couple dancing. In 1919, Gregory D'Egville, in the first edition of How and What to Dance, reported haughtily that "Although not 'fashionable' in the ordinary sense of the word, the Maxina is danced a good deal at small dances outside London." This did not stop him from publishing a version of the instructions with a slightly different ending.
The Maxina continues to be danced as a living tradition dance and has acquired several significant variations over the years. My reconstruction is based on the earliest sources for the dance: the description published in The Dancing Times and the instructions on the sheet music.
The starting position for the Maxina is a modified "shadow" position, with the dancers almost side by side, the gentleman further back with his right shoulder behind the lady's left. The original instructions call for the gentleman to hold the lady's right wrist in his right hand over her shoulder and her left wrist in his left hand, somewhat lower. The feet should be in third position with the left foot in front. Both dancers start begin with the left foot.
Maxina (24 bars of 4/4 time; two strong beats per bar)
2b Four pas marché (walking steps) along line of dance (left, right, left, right), stepping out diagonally (left foot to left, right foot to right, etc.)
2b Chassé (step-close-step, count 1&2) diagonally to the left, then to the right, swaying body toward lead foot (left-right-left, right-left-right)
1b Two pas marché along line of dance (left, right); pivot invidually on right foot
(dancers are facing opposite direction, lady is to gentleman's left, moving against line of dance)
1b Cross left foot over right (1) then point right foot to fourth position in front (2)
1b Two pas marché against line of dance (right, left); pivot individually on left foot
(dancers are again facing line of dance with lady to gentleman's right)
1b Cross right foot over left (1) then point left foot to fourth position in front (2)
4b Eight "step-taps" making a circle to the left; step forward left on the heel, toes raised (1), then step onto right with a slight tap (&); repeat for eight counts. Bodies should be bent over the left foot, right hands raised and left lowered.
(for these four bars, knees should be slightly bent)
1b Pas marché forward on left foot, then on right with a dip, turning toes out to right
1b Step forward left on the heel, toes raised (1), close right foot to heel of left (&), raise left foot in front of right heel, toe down and heel up (2)
2b Repeat the previous two bars
2b Three pas marché forward (left, right, left), then gentleman closes right to left while lady pivots clockwise under his left arm to face, freeing her right foot
6b Three complete turns of two-step or waltz; on the last bar, shift back to shadow position, the lady freeing her left foot
Reconstruction and Performance Notes
1. Partners should turn their faces toward each other during the chassé steps on bars three and four. The original Dancing Times publication states "turning face toward each other at each bar". This somehow got transmuted to "turning face to face" on the sheet music.
2. On the pivots, the dancers must not drop hands; they turn individually, which flips the shadow position so the lady ends up to the gentleman's left while moving against line of dance.
3. The heel-leading "step-taps" are deliberately reminiscent of the maxixe (hence the name "Maxina"). It's not entirely clear where the right foot is set down on the taps, but closing it behind the left seems to work best. The lady is moving around the gentleman as they make this circle, so he needs to take very small steps forward with the left foot and tap his right foot almost in place. D'Egville describes the shift to the right foot as "Hop to ball of right foot", but I think the intention is more a maxixe-style stamp. The dancers should slowly straighten up as they complete the circle.
4. The exact turn at the end is not really described, just "Lady pivot under hand to face partner." This is the only way that fits that description. The gentleman turns the lady with his left hand, dropping the right, then dropping the left as well to take her right hand as they move into closed position.
5. The two-step is the turn-of-the-century two-step, equivalent to a turning galop or chassé step, as described in detail here, not any modern version. Should the dancers wish to waltz instead, the choice should be the old valse à trois temps starting (for the gentleman), with a step, close of feet, and pivot, rather than the box-shaped "new waltz". The rhythm is "1&2" either way.
6. On the last half-turn, the lady needs to open out to face forward and end with a touch of the left foot only, so it is free to restart the dance. Both dancers need to drop hands and switch back to the shadow hold. This is actually quite easy if using the two-step; the gentleman just makes a very tiny two-step and allows the lady to "unfold" to his right as she comes around. Using the waltz step is a little trickier.
7. All the 1917 descriptions just have "pas marche" and "chasse" with no accents on the end. I just can't bear that, so I've corrected their French. The French edition uses "pas de marche" and "chassé".
Music
Complete sheet music, including the dance instructions, may be found online at the National Library of New Zealand and, with the instructions in French, at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
When his book Old Time Dancing was published in 1950, the famous British bandleader and dancing master Victor Sylvester wrote that "Not only has its popularity remained undiminished, but it is still usually danced to the original 'Maxina' music...rarely have music and dance been more happily wedded."
That "usually" is meaningful; there were other attempts to compose Maxina music, and other pieces could be converted to a twenty-four bar repeat structure for dancing it; I have an Australian medley of three tunes labeled as a Maxina that includes "Waltzing Matilda" and "Glow Worm" but not the original tune, and there are others available as well. But in general, it's best to use the original tune.
Fortunately, it's quite easy to find recordings, but shop with care: many versions are either very mid-twentieth century "lounge" in style or overly heavy on the accordions and rural style, which is fine if you're reenacting the Australian outback, but less so for a London ballroom. D'Egville noted that it is danced to "common tempo, but often slower". The most typical recorded tempo is around 58-60 beats per minute, like this one, but I personally like a more spritely 70 beats per minute. This faster piano recording is only twice through and has some scratchy background noise (presumably it's a transfer from LP), but it's more fun to dance to!
Living Tradition
As noted above, the Maxina began to evolve almost as soon as it was published, and it continues as a living tradition dance today, with at least three major sequence variations. (Backward steps! Grapevines! Kicks! Double underarm turns!) See, for example, these videos of "Canberra style", "W. A. style", an Israeli group's version, and a very "Dancesport" version.
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