In the mid-1820s, London dancing master G. M. S. Chivers published two additional sets of "Caledonians" figures, over and above his first set of Caledonians, which became the standard nineteenth-century version. The second set has some appealing variations in the figures: alternating half-figures for head and side couples; solos for both gentlemen and ladies in separate figures; a "meanwhile" figure to occupy the less-active couples; and a demi-grande-chaîne figure broken into quarters by extra full turns. There's nothing too exotic, but it's a fun little set, fairly straightforward to reconstruct and easy to dance for anyone with general experience with Regency-era quadrille steps and figures. I'll include the first couple of figures below and follow up with the remainder in a second post.
A note about music: my only source for Chivers' Second Set of Caledonians is his Dancing Master in Miniature (c1825), which gave figures only, no music. I have not, so far, found the specifically published sheet music for them. Given the degree to which sets of quadrille figures were recycled for different sets of tunes during the nineteenth century, I would not feel at all uncomfortable about dancing them to more-or-less random sets of Scottish music, either from another published set of Scottish-themed quadrilles or assembled from period Scottish tunes. The length and repeat structure of the figures matches the standard "first set" of quadrilles.
On to the figures!
Figure 1 (8b + 32bx2)
8b Introduction (does not repeat)
8b Head couples: chaîne des dames (ladies' chain)
4b Head couples: en avant / en arrière (forward and back)
4b Head couples: demi-chaîne anglaise (half right and left)
8b Side couples: en avant / en arrière and demi-chaîne anglaise
(all couples are now on opposite sides from where they started)
4b All: demi-promenade (promenade halfway round) to original places
4b All: tour de mains (turn partners by two hands)
Repeat the whole figure (minus the introduction) with the side couples leading.
Steps:
This series assumes basic familiarity with Regency steps and step-sequences, so I'll just give quick notes. Every figure above except the en avant / en arrière should be done with standard sequences of three chassé, jeté-assemblé. For the en avant / en arrière, a simple sequence is one chassé, jeté-assemblé forward and one chassé, jete-assemblé backward starting with the left foot (which is behind). A more detailed description of this sequence and a couple of other possibilities for more experienced dancers may be found here.
Notes:
(1) the wording at the beginning is somewhat odd in that no couples are specified for the chaîne des dames. Chivers (who printed these figures in English; the French is my translation) simply started with "Ladies chain". But I feel that if he had meant the four-couple chaîne des dames double, he would have said that, so I've assigned the figure to the head couples. But one could argue the point.
(2) at the end of the demi-promenade, I would not bother swinging around to face inward, only to have to reverse direction for the tour de mains. Purely for aesthetic reasons, I'd leave the lady on the outside and the gentleman on the inside and have them face each other and drop hands on the jete-assemblé before taking two hands for the tour de mains, which will then be a relaxed three-quarter turn.
(3) what I particularly like about this figure is that all the couples are active; many first figures (including in the regular French quadrille and Chivers' first set of Caledonians) have only two couples moving at a time.
Figure 2 (8b + 24bx4)
8b Introduction (does not repeat)
8b First gentleman: en avant (forward and back) twice or pas seul
4b Head ladies: en avant / en arrière
4b Head ladies: traversez (cross over), changing places
4b Head couples: en avant and head ladies change places
4b Head couples: tour de mains moving outward to original places
Repeat the figure three more times, led by the second/third/fourth gentlemen in turn. Second gentlemen is opposite the first.
Steps:
As above for all figures except traversez. For the first change of places, since it occurs on a diagonal path, I would suggest that the ladies use the standard three chassé, jeté-assemblé. Some other possibilities for more experienced ladies are given here. When the couples advance and the ladies cross, the gentlemen should do one chassé, jeté-assemblé and stop while the ladies dance three chassé, jeté-assemblé to cross to their original partners. Steps for any pas seul are left to the discretion of the gentleman!
Notes:
(1) the pas seul is not specified by Chivers, but a single person going forward and back twice is the standard simplification of an eight-bar solo. It is a perfectly acceptable figure, but experienced gentlemen might take this opportunity to show off their steps in something more elaborate. Ladies, fear not, your turn comes in a later figure!
(2) the instructions for the last eight bars are ambiguous. The precise wording is "first and opposite couple advance -- resume partners and turn to places --". The "--" represents four bars of music. Read absolutely literally, the first two couples advance for four bars (!) and then...take their ladies, who are practically on top of them, and somehow find space to start turning by two hands to places? This is not appealing.
One could reasonably assume that "advance" includes "retire", as it often does (in this very figure, the opening instruction is written simply as "First gent. advance twice"). That would leave the ladies crossing from the other side directly into the turn with their partners, which is quite a lot of distance to cover in four bars. It's possible if the ladies really fly, but I don't love it.
In his first Caledonians set, however, Chivers used a figure where the head couples advance in opposing pairs and stop in the center, then take hands with their partners and turn to places. My reconstruction uses elements from both that (couples starting in the center and "swirling" outward to places) and the standard Trenise and Pastourelle figures in which a gentleman advances and stops (before retiring) while the lady continues forward to stand with the opposite gentleman. In this case the gentleman doesn't retire, but the general concept is the same.
To be continued...
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