Whatever the Original Gallopade published by dancing master W. G. Wells ("late of London") in The danciad, or companion to the modern ball room (Montreal, 1832) may be, it's certainly not the "original", in the sense of being the first version, since it's clearly a variation of the Original Gallopade published in Companion to La Terpsichore Moderne (Second Edition) by J. S. Pollock (London, c1830).
The introductory material is also blatantly plagiarized from either Pollock or some common source, so it can hardly be called "original" in the creative sense either, and it is unlikely to be exactly what was originally introduced in 1829 and referenced in the introduction to the dance, which I will append in full at the bottom of this post. I think that introduction is more about gallopade-as-a-dance-in-general rather than this specific gallopade. But in any case, it's virtually identical to the introduction in Pollock, and they can't both be the original.
The one element actually original to Wells was a diagram showing the circle of couples (represented by X for gentlemen and O for ladies). But all in all, I would say that "The Original Gallopade" should be considered a proper name rather than a description.
That said, the dance figures themselves are an interesting variation on the Pollock dance, and I have such a small collection of figured gallopades for circles of couples that any addition is of interest.
The general structure of Wells' dance is the same as Pollock's. In short, the dance is structured to alternate gallopades with short quadrille-type figures, ending with a sauteuse waltz. The first gallopade is given as "Sixteen Bars Gallopade", which may or may not be significant. The others are just "Gallopade round the room.
The original text of each of Wells' figures, with numbering added by me:
- Four ladies chassez to the left, gents. to the right, sett and turn partners.
- Four gents. join right hands to their partners', placing them in the centre, sett and turn them into the same situation, gallopade in a cross and turn to places.
- Chassez croiza (in couples).
- Hands round, turn to places.
- Grand chain all round.
- Finish with Sauteuse, which continues for 24 bars, when the dance ends, but may be prolonged at the pleasure of the party.
I've incorporated the grand chain and sauteuse into the figure list because in Wells' version, each of those is also preceded by a gallopade, so there are six gallopades in total. But note that, contrary to the cut-and-pasted introduction which stated that the dance could be done with any number of couples, Wells' figures twice mention four dancers, implying a set of four couples only. This is actually a problem: it's very awkward to do the ladies' crossing over from a regular hold to a reverse hold, as described in the introductory material (quoted in full here) in a small set. It's like constantly trying to do reverse turns on corners.
Since I don't think that introductory material is specific to this particular set of figures, I would reconstruct this as a dance for four couples and substitute shorter four-slide galops with regular turns for the gallopades after the first one. This does not mean the dancers need to think of it as a quadrille set. It's still a circle, and will be more fun if it is larger than the typical quadrille set. During the gallopades the circle can even expand a bit, contracting again at the end. The dancers should prioritize maintaining good spacing between the couples over getting precisely around to particular places.
My reconstruction:
8b Honors
16b Gallopade
8b Partners chassé-croisé, set, and turn two hands
16b Gallopade
8b Guide ladies into center, set, grand moulinet, turn
16b Gallopade
8b Chassé-croisé with setting
16b Gallopade
8b Grand rond.
16b Gallopade
8b Grande chaîne halfway round (meet partners).
16b Gallopade
24b Sauteuse (may be prolonged)
This gives a convenient musical structure of 24b x 7, or more if the dancers want extra sauteuse.
Details of the figures:
- The gallopade. Normal ballroom hold throughout. Four-slide galops around the set, turning every two bars so that the dancers alternate following joined hands and dancing "over elbows".
- Partners chassé-croisé (2b), set (2b), and turn two hands (4b). This is only half of a chassé-croisé.
- Guide ladies into center (2b), set (2b), grand moulinet (2b), turn (2b). This was the hardest to fit into eight bars, but I really didn't want figures of disparate lengths. The original language is a bit confusing as well, so I've interpreted heavily. Take inside hands with partners. Gentlemen guide the ladies into the center. Face partners briefly and set. Then ladies take right hands across, gentlemen turn to face the same way (keeping inside hands), and all promenade briefly in a grand moulinet formation. After two bars of promenade, start to flow into what would be a two-hand turn to put the gentleman on the inside, ready to take close hold for the gallopade. The dancers may never actually take second hands here.
- Chassé-croisé with setting. Use the final setting to orient and approach for the gallopade.
- Grand rond. All eight hands round to the left (clockwise) and back. Break a little early so the men can fold back toward their partners to take position for the gallopade.
- Grande chaîne halfway. Face partners. Give right hands and pass by, left to the next, right to the next, and left to the next, and meet partners. A grande chaîne all the way around a set of four couples generally takes sixteen bars in this era, and I don't like to rush it. Halfway round (four passes) brings the dancers to their partners and gives them time to get into closed hold at the end.
- Sauteuse round the set until the music ends.
Should one wish to dance this gallopade with a larger number of couples, there's no physical reason the number of couples can't be expanded to as many as the ballroom will hold. It will cause an issue with the music, however, as the more couples there are, the more music the grande chaîne will require. The solution will depend on the precise number of couples. Options include simply dancing across the strains or adding more strains if the number is really large. This is one place where Original Gallopade in Pollock has an advantage: the grand chain goes directly into the sauteuse, there's less worry about the grand chain needing more or less music. Eliminating the last gallopade would be another possible solution here.
If the number of dancers is sufficient for a large circle, the original gallopade technique can be reinstated. First, take normal ballroom hold; galop four bars (eight-slide). Lady crosses in front of gentleman to a reverse ballroom hold; galop four bars. Lady crosses in front of gentleman back to normal ballroom hold; galop four bars. Lady crosses again to reverse hold; galop four bars. Open up to a circle of couples (keeping joined hands -- this will be her left and his right, coming out of reverse hold -- at least briefly, depending on what the next figure requires) on the last bar. "Reverse hold" here means the opposite of a normal hold: the gentleman's left arm around the lady, her right hand on his shoulder, and their other hands joined. The lady is "tossed across" from the gentleman's right to his left and back.
A note on steps: when I first worked on Pollock's original gallopade, I was firmly in favor of using quadrille steps on the non-gallopade parts of the dance. I still find that a very beautiful way to do the dance, especially if it is for performance rather than social purposes, but I'm open to the option for dancers with less polish or more, um, energy to do it solely with galop steps for all travel and pas-de-basque for setting. Some attention will need to be paid to having the correct foot free for the gallopade at the end of each figure.
Should the choice to be to use quadrille steps, typical combinations of some number of chassé plus jeté, assemblé will work for most figures. For the chassé-croisé sequences, some suggestions are in the series of three posts beginning here. Use pas-de-basque for short (2b) setting. For performance, select sequences beforehand so that everyone moves in unison.
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The original text of the introductory material, word for word the same as in Pollock, is below. The only differences are the capitalized "C" in "Continent" and the hyphen in "ball-room". As noted above, I don't think this applies to this specific choreography; it's talking about gallopade (or, more likely, just galop) in general.
LA GALLOPADE.
This new and fashionable dance, which it appears is of Russian origin, was first introduced into England at His Majesty's ball, St. James's Palace, on the 11th June, 1829, when the Princess Esterhazy, the Earl of Clanwilliam, the Duke of Devonshire, and some of the foreign ministers exerted themselves in teaching its novel movements to the company, and was danced alternately with Quadrilles and Waltzing during the whole of the evening. The Gallopade (or rather Galopade, Fr.), as danced on the Continent, is different to the Gallopade that has been introduced by many professors, under that name, into this country; more especially from that of Russia, where, not only amongst the peasantry, but, amongst the higher orders, it is executed in a manner, by no means adapted to the English ball-room. The real step (which is most appropriate to the name of the dance) and movement are different to any other; and, to be able to execute them properly and gracefully, it is necessary to take lessons, or at all events, to see them well danced. It is ridiculous to see persons stand up in this dance, who are completely ignorant of the peculiar step and movement, but who bungle through it with a chassez step, to the annoyance of those who know it, and to the complete destruction of the pleasing effect which ought to be produced. It may not be unnecessary to remark, that Gallopades are not intended to be danced in sets, like Quadrilles, but that every one is perfect and complete in itself, like the original Gallopade in the following collection. The Gallopade is certainly, when gracefully and properly performed, a valuable acquisition to the English ball-room, and will, no doubt, become a fashionable and attractive favourite.
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