Capering & Kickery

Chivers' Troidrilles (2 of 2)

Continuing on with figures two and three of Chivers' Troidrilles...

Figure Two (Tune: Eté) 8b + 24bx4
8b    Introduction (not repeated)
2b    First head trio forward (en avant) and stop
2b    Opposite trio forward (en avant) and stop
4b    All retire to places, turning round to the right twice
8b    Four head ladies right hands across (moulinet) and left hands back
8b    Set (pas de basque) in trios (4b) and hands three round (4b)
Repeat three more times, other couples leading in turn

This is another straightforward reconstruction.  The figure is done four times as in standard quadrille practice: twice by the head couples (first couple leading, then opposite couple leading) then twice by the side couples, led first by the couple to the right of the first head couple.  

Steps
For the en avant, normally an opportunity for fancier steps, I would use a single chassé, jeté-assemblé because with three dancers holding hands, it's once again too awkward to have everyone dancing different steps.  For the retire to places, three chassé, jeté-assemblé.  The same each way for the moulinet and the final hands three round in trios.

Chivers' Troidrilles (1 of 2)

I adore dances that are for trios rather than couples.  There are so many interesting things one can do when there are three dancers in the mix rather than just two!  And, of course, it helps the address the problem that historical dance tends to be imbalanced in gender, with many more women than men interested, but many of them desiring to dance in historical gender roles...though those were not always as rigid as people believe.  Figures for one gentleman and two ladies go some way toward addressing this at balls.

I've written previously about G. M. S. Chivers' "Swedish" dances, trio country dances that were not actually Swedish, and the Scottish Sixdrilles, a reworking of the French quadrille to be danced by four trios rather than four couples.  The Troidrilles are more in the spirit of the latter (though the name is more harmonious): a miniature "quadrille" of only three figures for four trios published in Chivers' The Dancing Master in Miniature (London, 1825).  The figures are original, though very Chivers in style.

The Troidrilles were published as set to tunes -- presumably the English ones -- for the French quadrille: Pantalon, Eté, and Finale.  I believe that implies that there was no specific sheet music published for them.  Any quadrille set with a Finale figure of the same length (not always the case!) should work.  I generally teach and dance them using the recording of Paine's 12th Set of Quadrilles found on the album Music for Quadrilles by Kevin Smith and Green Ginger, with the Finale figure edited to remove the coda.

The formation, as noted, is a square of twelve dancers, each trio consisting of one gentleman between two ladies.  The head trios are the trio with their back to the music and the trio facing them.  The side trios are, obviously, the other two trios.  The figures were originally printed entirely in English; I've added French translations here and there for those who learned the figures in that language.  General familiarity with quadrille figures and steps is assumed; I will not explain either in detail.

I'll go through the figures one by one with notes on reconstruction or performance as required.

Another "Original" Gallopade

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 America

In honor of America's birthday, here's an appropriately-named variation by C. A. Carr (creator of the Highland Glide) which is long enough with enough dancing in place that it should probably be classified as a sequence dance and danced by all dancers in unison, as it would be quite the annoyance to other couples if done in the midst of a normal dance.  In M. B. Gilbert's Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) it is listed in the redowa/mazurka section and in George Washington Lopp's La Danse (Paris, 1903) under "Les mazurkas".  If forced to a decision, I'd call it a polka mazurka and note that it features a stealthy bit of York hidden inside it.

July 2021 Gig Calendar

All right, this is getting a little ridiculous.  Remember I said last month that that series of online classes was really the last one?  Well...it wasn't. 

So let's try this again:

Still no in-person classes, but this month I'll be doing one more series (the last one! really!) of cotillion working group classes, using a different potpourri scheme - multiple figures repeating multiple times.  I'll also be lecturing for the Regency Fiction Writers Virtual Conference and teaching hand jive at the fabulous (and free!) online Stockton Folk Dance Camp.  Stockton is a fabulous bargain - a week of classes with an international cast of teachers, tons of dancing and music, and free.

And if anyone is ready to sponsor in-person classes in the USA again...I'm fully vaccinated and ready to travel!

Please note: the events listed below are hosted in different cities/countries in different time zones.  Please adjust for your own time zone before planning online attendance!

 

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Saturdays, July 10th-31st ~ ONLINE / Connecticut-based
Cotillion Working Group III: The Last Series
3:00pm-4:30pm.  Online lesson series experimenting with a three-figure, nine-change potpourri cotillion of the Federalist period (1780s-1800s).  Continuing students only.

Thursday-Saturday, July 22nd-24th ~ ONLINE / EDT-based
Lecture: Regency Masquerades
for the Regency Fiction Writers 1st Annual Conference - 2021 “A Brand New Day: The Many Facets of Regency Fiction”
Part of a three-day writers' conference for the Regency Fiction Writers (a.k.a. The Beau Monde).  My lecture will be from 3:00-4:00pm on Friday, July 23rd.  Attendance is limited to conference attendees.  Conference registration is open through July 15th.  More information at the RFW website.

Friday, July 23rd - Sunday, August 1st ~ ONLINE / California-based
Workshops: Hand Jive (two)
for Stockton Folk Dance Camp
I will be teaching two session of 1950s hand jive as part of this huge online folk dance event with teachers and musicians from all over the world.  My workshops will be Thursday the 29th at 3:00pm (Pacific time) and Friday the 30th at 4:00pm (Pacific time).  The first will be typical hand jive moves and clapping rhythms.  The second will be something new (for "1958" values of new) and rather unusual as hand jive goes.  Then at approximately 6:25pm (Pacific time) on Sunday the first, I'll be doing a quick (ten-minute) review of the second class at the closing party.  The event (the whole camp, not just my workshops) is free to all, though donations are encouraged.  Register to attend here.

Sunday, July 25th ~ ONLINE / Connecticut-based
Dance Historian Meetup
11:00am-2:00pm.  Private event.

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I am available for private online lessons and talks via Skype or Zoom (or your videoconferencing software of choice) during the pandemic; please email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson or talk.  I am also available for small-group in-person dance events; fully vaccinated dancers only, please!

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Coming in August: research time!  Because somehow I haven't had enough isolation?