Instructions for The Cadet Valse, by L. W. Vizay, instructor in dancing to the cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, were published in conjunction with sheet music for the dance composed by Frank Mayr. A copy is available on line at the Chrystelle Trump Bond Dance and Music Collection, Goucher College Archives, from which the beautiful cover image at left (click to enlarge) is taken. This copy is an English printing and dated 1892, but since the dance instructions appeared in M. B. Gilbert's Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) under the name Cadet Waltz, the dance and music must be at least a couple of years earlier than that. The dance instructions also appeared, under the name La Valse Cadet, in George Washington Lopp's La Danse (Paris, 1903). All three sets of instructions are essentially identical, allowing for some shifts in terminology.
The Cadet Valse is an excellent example of dance steps specifically matched to music. In this case, it's rather unusual music which alternates two bars of mazurka music with four bars of waltz. With that pattern, the sequence is essentially undanceable to any other music. I've done an electronic version of the first twelve bars, since it's really necessary to hear the musical accenting to understand the dance.
Here's the clip:
The dance is reasonably straightforward to reconstruct; the only question is that of angles and degrees of turn. I'll give the pattern first, then break down those little challenges.
The position for the dance is a normal closed ballroom hold. The steps below are given for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite. See the notes below for critical information on the starting orientation and amount of turning in the waltz sections.
Reconstruction (two bars of mazurka + four bars of waltz, all repeated)
(gentleman facing line of dance, zig-zagging)
1&23 Slide left to side (1), close right to left (&), slide left to side (2), cut with right, displacing left to second (3)
&1&23 Close left to right (&), slide right to side (1), repeat (&2), cut with left, displacing right to second (3)
(4 bars) Waltz, natural turn, one and a half turns, starting right foot forward; pattern is "leap-slide-cut", leaving right foot raised in second at the end of the fourth measure
(gentleman's back to line of dance, zig-zagging)
&1&23 Close right to left (&), slide left to side (1), close right to left (&), slide left to side (2), cut with right, displacing left to second (3)
&1&23 Close left to right (&), slide right to side (1), repeat (&2), cut with left, displacing right to second (3)
(4 bars) Waltz, reverse turn, one and a half turns, starting right foot backward, again leaving right foot raised in second at the end of the fourth measure
All subsequent repetitions start the same way as the second time through above, with the little chassé of the right foot displacing the left, continuing to alternate natural and reverse turns. Gilbert and Lopp call those two-bar strains mazurka music, and either Vizay or Mayr labeled them "Newport" on the sheet music, but in actuality, this is the step pattern of the two-slide racket, which I described here, not the Newport. The music is very Newport-like, however, though grace notes make it more "&1&2&3" than the "1&2&3" rhythm of the Newport itself.
Note that although Vizay did not specify a waltz step, this dance works best with the "new" waltz as described in Gilbert, meaning a "leap-slide-cut" pattern rather than the smoother "slide-close-slide". The cut at the end naturally leaves the right foot prepared for the repetition of the dance, which Vizay does specify, and the generally bouncier style better matches the two-slide racket segments. I would find it very odd to do three bars and two steps gliding and then a sudden cut at the end. Apparently Lopp did not share my opinion, however, as the only significant difference between the sources is that Lopp described the waltz step as a "boston", which in his manual is the gliding version. He made this substitution frequently in dances that he took from Gilbert. I suspect this reflects a difference in practice between France in the early 1900s and America in the 1880s. Since the dance originated in America, my reconstruction follows American practice.
Now, about those angles. None of the sources talk about whether there is any turn in the first two bars (the two-slide racket section) of each repetition. But the need to alternate the natural and reverse turns and the connection with the two-slide racket clarify things.
- The first two-bar racket sequence should be done with the gentleman facing line of dance and the lady's back to the line of dance, zig-zagging gently along line of dance. This leaves the gentleman leaping forward and the lady leaping backward to start the waltz turns. That's not ideal for the lady, but it is what Vizay called for. At least, given the unique music, it's unlikely that anyone was going to be surprising a lady with it.
- The dancers do only one and a half turns of waltz. At the end of the first four bars of waltz, the fourth bar should be straight backward (for the gentleman) along the line of dance.
- The second rack sequence is done zig-zagging again, but this time with the gentleman's back to line of dance and the lady facing line of dance. This sets the dancers up nicely for the reverse turn with the gentleman's leap backward on his right foot while the lady leaps forward on her left.
- The dancers then again do only one and a half turns of waltz, the fourth bar being straight forward (for the gentleman) to set up to repeat the dance from the beginning.
Dancers who wish to improvise in the Cadet Waltz can play with the degree and direction of turn, doing rackets forward or backward repeatedly, keeping the direction of turn the same each time, doing more straight-line waltz steps and less turn, and so forth.
Music
I am not aware of any recording of the Cadet Waltz. Musicians may download the sheet music from the Goucher College Archives. In the absence of live musicians, I'm afraid dancers are out of luck.
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