Since 2020 is a leap year, here's an appropriate tune and a very generic dance to go with it. The tune and figures were published in London in Thompson's Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1793. These little books of country dance tunes were generally published late in the previous year, so this tune probably dates from 1792, another leap year. I don't have permission to republish the original image, but here is the tune in modern format:
Cast off two coup. up again .|.
Right Hands across, half round, and back again :|.
Cross, over one Coup. turn your Partner .|:
Right and Left :|:
The repeat punctuation is my modern approximation of the period symbols. I've added the line breaks to make it clear that the tune is played AABB and that each line represents one eight-bar strain. Here's the reconstruction:
8b Active couple cast down two places (4b) then cast up to original places (4b)
8b Active couple and second couple right hands across (4b), left hands back (4b)
8b Active couple cross over and cast down one place (4b) and turn two hands (4b)
8b Active couple (progressed) and second couple (above them) right and left
And here's a quick software-generated recording to match them to:
These figures are so straightforward that there's not much to say about them, but here are some quick reconstruction and performance notes:
- for casting off, I prefer two bars to cast then two bars moving sideways down or up the set but there are other legitimate options for this period, as discussed here
- on the hands across, I would not obsess about the precise distance of "half round"; just go as far as is comfortable without making any attempt to get all the way around and return the same distance
- "cross over" as a figure includes an unspoken "and cast down one place"; the following "turn your partner" must be either one and a half tines round if the dancers are feeling energetic or half round if not, but in any case must bring the dancers back to their original sides
- this is a "long" right and left of eight bars, for which I would take hands on each change; it is most typical in this period for this to be done up the set
This would originally have been a triple minor dance, but as the third couple has absolutely nothing to do, I don't object to dancing it duple minor to suit the shorter attention span of dancers today.
These dance figures crossed the Atlantic under the title "Leap Year", evidently from a copy of Thompson's book. This makes the figures and tune quite suitable for an American ball as well. Some published appearances:
- The Skylark: or Gentlemen & Ladies' Complete Songster. 2nd. ed. (Worcester, 1797)
- A Collection of the Newest Cotillions and Country Dances.(Worcester, 1800)
- A Select Collection of the Newest and most favorite country dances, waltzes, reels & cotillions... (Otsego, 1808)
According to the Dance Figures Index: American Country Dances 1730-1810 database, they also appeared in at least three manuscripts between 1792 and 1795, including one that simply copied all the dances from Thompson's book.
And finally, since I have to remind people of this regularly: the name "Leap Year" belongs to the tune, not the figures. The figures were generic ones and were also attached to other tunes. To give a few examples:
- in Thompson's Twenty-Four Country Dances for the Year 1792, they appeared with "The Surrender of Calais"
- in Preston's Twenty-Four Country Dances for the Year 1793, they appeared with "Morpeth Rant"
- in Skillern's Twenty-Four Country Dances for the Year 1796, they appeared with "Lira Lira"
There are other examples, including many where the turn partners after the cross-over-cast figure is not spelled out -- in that form, they are one of the sets that appear with "Miss Moore's Rant". But the above list should be sufficient to make the point.
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