"The Gaby Glide" was a piece of music written as a star turn for dancers Gaby Deslys and Harry Pilcer in the Broadway operetta Vera Violetta, which opened in New York in November, 1911. The famous and popular Deslys was its namesake:
Gaby brought the dance and it's got us all a going
Since she came no other twirl has had any showing
It's a music treat, for your dancing feet
It is flashy but neat
The tune was composed by Louis A. Hirsch, with lyrics attributed to Pilcer himself. An original 1912 recording may be heard via the Library of Congress archives here, and a lovely modern performance by Mark Nadler may be seen and heard here:
Sadly, tempo changes and pauses make Nadler's version more difficult to dance to than the original. If one has live musicians, the sheet music, from which the image at the top was taken, may be found here.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no surviving film of or written choreography for the actual stage dance performed by Deslys and Pilcer, but it seems from the sheet music cover that it was performed in a modified "skater's" hold and that Deslys raised her leg high enough to expose a few inches of thigh, which is considerably more skin than I would expect to see on the social dance floor at this time. A contemporary photo of Deslys and Pilcer (at left; click to enlarge) gives some of the feel of the stage dance, as do excerpts from the lyrics:
“just a twist and a bend”
“a big joyful dip”
“Start in to the side, do the Paris ride, Swing up near then wide”
“Do the side step, trip and then go back the other way. Do the forward dip, and see how you begin to sway.”
The version of the Gaby Glide published by Philadelphia dance teacher and author Albert W. Newman in his 1914 manual, Dances of To-day was more restrained -- danced in closed position with no indecorous flashes of leg required. Newman noted that it could be done to any schottische music, so it would be reasonable to use it as a half-length variation when dancing a regular schottische. But the rhythm of the steps is matched to "The Gaby Glide" song, so if using it as a sequence dance, with everyone dancing it at once, the original music would be best.
The starting position is a normal closed ballroom hold, as shown in the illustration from Newman at left (click to enlarge), with the dancers' joined hands pointed toward line of dance (the gentleman's left and lady's right). The steps given are for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite.
Gaby Glide (four measures of 4/4 schottische music)
1 Slide left sideways along line of dance
2 Hop on left foot, extending right foot
3 Step right foot behind left
& Step left to the side
4 Step right foot behind left
(Repeat the above steps 123&4)
1 Step on left foot (across line of dance)
2 Hop on left foot, raising right slightly, completing a half-turn
3 Step on right foot (along line of dance)
4 Hop on right foot, raising left slightly, completing a half-turn
(Repeat the above steps 1234, another complete turn)
Performance and reconstruction notes
Newman refers to the "cross behind-side-cross behind" on 3&4 in the first part as a "pas de bourrée".
Newman says nothing about direction of travel or turn, so the orientation of the dancers and the turn in the second part are my own interpretation. My sense is that this is a schottische, and follows a standard schottische pattern of first part traveling but not turning and second part turning. It would be possible to do the second part without turning (indeed, without going anywhere!) by simply stepping and hopping from side to side, but (1) that's silly, and (2) the step-hop is a standard turning step (the sauteuse or jeté waltz) for the early schottische, as a dance teacher of Newman's caliber would have been well aware. I think he simply neglected to mention the obvious.
An alternative interpretation (without turning, but less silly) would be to make a quarter turn at the end of the "3&4" pas de bourrée and do the step-hops traveling along line of dance (either lady back or, less likely, gentleman backing), ending with another quarter-turn on the last one to place the dancers' sides to line of dance so they can continue traveling. One could argue that this is better supported by the instructions in that they lack any specific mention of turning, though of course they don't mention any quarter-turns or other adjustments of direction either. Dancers of skill could improvise a bit and either turn or not on the second half on each repetition of the sequence.
Likewise, Newman does not specify whether both the gentleman and the lady cross behind on the pas de bourrée or whether the lady, dancing opposite, crosses in front. I find it more graceful to have the lady cross in front, since that is easier to lead and requires less arm length on the part of the gentleman. Danced thus, the Gaby Glide is leadable without prior practice if the lady is generally familiar with the schottische. One could also quite reasonably dance it with both partners crossing behind.
Other Gaby Glides
I haven't come across any others, but Newman specifically noted their existence:
There are various other versions of the Gaby Glide, but they become more difficult and are not so practical.
(Edited 5/16/21 to add the referenced images which Typepad refused to upload when I made the original post.)
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