Thinking about the Four Step

Original photo: Barry Lewis

The photo at left (click to enlarge) was taken in June, 2018, at the Laws Railroad Museum and Historic Site in Bishop, California.  I've cropped it to focus on the dance program board shown, which is hanging in the music room there.  It gives a program that probably dates from around 1910.  Most of the dances were well-known couple dances, plus (of course!) the quadrille, which was probably the first set or a called quadrille.  I've discussed some of the others, such as the Rye Waltz, the Newport, and some versions of the Paul Jones, on Kickery in the past.  There's some mystery about what exactly would have been danced for the minuet -- the Oxford Minuet?  One of the  choreographed "waltz minuets"?  A Menuet de la Cour? 

But to me, the most interesting puzzle on there is what exactly was meant by a "Four Step".

In the 1900s and early 1910s, there were sequences called the four-step in several different dances -- a four-step Boston, a four-step grapevine, a four-step in the tango, etc.  I don't really envision any of those to have been listed as a separate dance, however.  Noted dance historian Richard Powers stated in a Facebook comment on the photo that the four-step was an early name for the one-step, though I don't know how common that usage was, since I have not come across it myself.  But it's not the only possibility.  Let's look at a few of the others!

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First, it might have been a specific choreography, such as the Marine Four-Step, an English sequence dance choreographed in 1911 by James Finnigan, a dance teacher in Manchester, England.  In his Old-Time Dancers' Handbook (London, 1953), F. J. Mainey stated that Finnigan was the master of ceremonies at the Marine Gardens Ballroom in Portobello (a suburb of Edinburgh) but that his dance was intended to honor the Royal Marines.  There's more about Finnigan and his more famous choreography, the Military Two-Step, from the BBC here.

Overall, though, I don't find the Marine Four-Step to be a likely candidate.  It's not impossible that an English dance might have made its way to California and become a local favorite; midwestern dancing masters such as Andrew Wirth copied freely from English dance manuals.  But the timing would have been rather tight for a 1911 dance, and I think the Marine Four-Step would have been more likely to have been listed by name, though of course there's not much space for lengthy dance titles on that board.  Regardless, it is not my first choice.

Second, it might have been a variant schottische.  There was actually one called "Le Four Step Schottisch" published in France in 1903.  I haven't found an American source for it, but the author of the work it appeared in, G. W. Lopp, was an American expatriate originally from the west coast (Oregon), and the name certainly doesn't sound like a native French title.  But the dance, frankly, isn't all that interesting or pleasing to dance, and even if it did have an American origin, I'm not sure I could see it having become so popular as to appear on a dance program distinct from a general schottische.

Third, it might have been the Pas de Quatre, an English schottische closely akin to the American Military Schottische (Barn Dance).  Pas de Quatre was sometimes mistranslated as "Four Step", though the original meaning was a choreography for four dancers.  There's quite a long story behind this dance; the short version is that the name Pas de Quatre became attached to a version of the schottische when it became strongly associated with the music for the famous pas de quatre performed in the 1888 musical burlesque Faust up to Date.  You can see the mistranslation on this 1920 Victor Records 78 RPM recording, the second side of which is labeled "Pas de Quatre - Schottis" subtitled "(Four Step - Schottische)".  The tune on the record, which may be heard here, is not the famous one from Faust up to Date (here, for comparison); it's just a schottische.

I don't think that dance program is from as late as 1920 unless they were wildly behind the times in Bishop, but the mistranslation actually seems to date back to at least 1903.  As quoted on page ninety-seven of Immorality of modern dances (New York, 1904),

The New York American and Journal, Sunday, April 97 26th, 1903, states that a modern dancer dances thirty miles at the average ball. The writer says that a Waltz of average duration represents approximately a run of one thousand yards. This is the longest dance, with the exception of the Quadrille, which, with its four figures, covers nearly one thousand, eight hundred yards. The Mazourka is only equivalent to about nine hundred yards, and the polka to eight hundred, while the lazy Pas de quatre, i.e ., “Four-step,” is barely seven hundred yards.  

The bold/italic emphasis is mine. 

I don't have a copy of the original newspaper article, as The New York American and Journal archives are something of a pain to access, but I've no reason to doubt its authenticity, but the printed evidence of this confusion in a 1904 book is firm.  The same quote in the same context of the same argument appeared on page fifty-three of the anti-dance Modern Dances by the Right Reverend Monsignor Luigi Satori (Collegeville, Indiana, 1910).  Immorality was a compilation including material specifically credited to Satori, so while one can never rule out some sort of plagiarism, I would assume that Satori was the author of that segment and simply reused it in his own book.

The Pas de Quatre and Le Four Step Schottisch were my favored options for the mystery of the Laws Museum Four Step, but I've recently come across a fourth possibility: a "Four Step" credited to Mrs. Oscar Duryea, whom I believe to have been the first of that title, Susan, who married Oscar Duryea around 1903 and died sometime in the 1910s.  The source in which I found this Four Step is something of a mystery, as it is missing both its cover and its title page, but from internal evidence, I believe it to be a compilation of dances presented at a convention of dancing masters held in 1906, probably published in late 1906 or early 1907.

Mrs. Duryea's Four Step was described as:

...a four-step dance with a two measure rythem [sic]...better suited to dance to two-step music than schottische time.  It combines both the glide waltz and the two-step.  The first two counts is [sic] like the first two counts of the waltz, the third count is like the second half of the two-step or chasing step, the fourth count is the finish or the closing of the feet as in the third count of the waltz.

A more detailed step breakdown was given, which made the reconstruction simple.  Starting in closed position, the gentleman's back to line of dance, the steps for the gentleman counted in schottische (4/4) time are:

1    Step left foot back to fourth position
2    Step right foot back to fourth position, turning to face line of dance
&3 Chassé with the left foot to third behind, gliding the right to fourth in front
4     Close left foot in third behind

1    Step right foot forward to fourth position
2    Step left foot forward to fourth position, turning to face against line of dance
&3  Chassé with the right foot to third in front, gliding the right backward to fourth
4     Close right foot in third in front 

The lady dances opposite, starting by stepping right foot forward at the beginning.

This is exactly what the description above says: counts 1, 2, and 4 are a basic "new waltz" step, with "&3" an inserted chassé.  The only real quibble is that two steps both straight back while swinging around with a partner to make a half-turn in between are...not easy to do.  In practice, the step on count two drifts closer to second position and the chassé moves somewhat sideways along the line of dance, like a normal turning two-step.  I think this how the dance is meant to work; the description is just a bit idealistic about the footwork.

The Four Step can be reversed exactly the same way as the basic waltz, by doing one measure (four beats) without turning, then continuing with either left foot forward or right foot back on count one.

Musically, the description is once again accurate: it works fine to schottische music (counted in 4/4, as above), but it's more fun to two-step, preferably in 6/8 time, though 2/4 works too.  The way the compound duple beat of 6/8 stretches the chassé out to the final beat of the six adds a nifty little accent.  Experienced dancers shouldn't need it broken down specifically for 6/8, but here it is just to show the difference.  

1&a    Step left foot back to fourth position
2&      Step right foot back to fourth position, turning to face line of dance
a1        Chassé with the left foot to third behind, gliding the right to fourth in front
2         Close left foot in third behind

1&a    Step right foot forward to fourth position
2&      Step left foot forward to fourth position, turning to face against line of dance
a1       Chassé with the right foot to third in front, gliding the right backward to fourth
2         Close right foot in third in front

Note that in 6/8 time (counted 1-&-a-2-&-a for each measure) it takes four measures to make a complete turn, rather than the two measures in 4/4 time shown above.

For tempo, anything from about 120 beats per minute to a maximum of around 140 beats per minute (60 to 70 if counting schottische as two rather than four) works well.

Obviously I can't make any definitive statement about whether Mrs. Duryea's Four Step was the one intended by whoever created that dance program board, but my tentative dating to c1906 makes it a possibility and if, as I speculate, it was presented at a national convention of dancing masters that year, it would have been in a position to spread widely across the United States.

Speaking about this Four Step more generally as simply a couple dance: it's actually quite good.  The extra movement given by the chassé makes the waltz turn smooth and easy.  It's quick to teach and fun to dance and it works to a wide variety of music.  I've already added it to my teaching repertoire for the early twentieth century, and if the Laws Museum wanted to actually dance that program, I'd be strongly tempted to recommend it.

Special thanks to Denis and Sasha for patiently testing this Four Step
to my increasingly eccentric musical selections!

Comments

[Susan de Guardiola]

One of my test dancers told me he recently tried leading a lady who was an experienced waltzer into the four-step with no preparation or explanation, and it worked just fine. I'm hoping to squeeze a bit of it into the schedule at my upcoming weekend in Vladimir!