The Russian Boston (Newman's Boston Variations)

Getting back to Albert W. Newman's collection of Boston variations:

As far as I know, there is nothing actually Russian about the Russian Boston, which was published by Newman in his Dances of to-day (Philadelphia, 1914), where he credited it to himself.  Presumably the "Russian" element is the use of the "mazourka step", which forms part of many nineteenth-century couple dances and variations.  How this fits into the typical historical aesthetic of the Boston, which is generally a dance of glides and gentle rising and falling rather than hopping and cutting is not clear to me, but I actually like the step-combination.  Unfortunately, the Russian Boston as given by Newman is a peculiar ten bars in length, which makes it irritating when matched with the typical eight-bar strains of most waltz music.  I'll give Newman's version followed by a suggested arrangement to make it a more comfortable sixteen bars.

Interestingly, this variation did not make it into the Dance Mad  compendium with Newman's other Bostons.  Did he not submit it or did it not make the cut?

Here are the named elements in the sequence:

The Mazourka Step, with the gentleman's feet, is:

1. slide left foot along line of dance
2. cut with the right foot, extending the left to raised second
3. hop on the right foot, bring the left foot to a raised third or fifth behind

The Side Balance, with the gentleman's feet, is:

1. step left foot to side along line of dance
2. & 3. close right foot without weight and bend body to the right

    Repeat to the other side.

The bend cannot be too dramatic, since it's performed fairly quickly.

The dancers begin in a normal closed ballroom hold, the gentleman facing the wall and the lady the center of the room, so that their joined hands are toward line of dance.  They move sideways along line of dance, the gentleman starting with his left foot and the lady with her right.

The lady dances opposite.  This takes one bar of music.

The Russian Boston (ten bars of 3/4)
2b    Mazourka Step (slide-cut-hop) twice
2b    Side balance to the left then to the right
1b    step left to the side (1), raise right foot across in front (2), and hop on left (3)
1b    step on right foot (crossed in front) (1), step left to the side (2), and close right with weight (3)
4b    Boston turn to the right

The Boston turn is the spin turn of the Long Boston (a.k.a. the Philadelphia Boston or One-Step Waltz), as described here.  The turning must be rather vigorous if the dancers wish to get completely around in only four steps, though if they do not, there are plenty of options for smoothly exiting the turn.

Reconstruction/performance note
Along with the odd length of the sequence, there is another issue in the question of how exactly the lady dances in the fifth and sixth bars: opposite or mirroring?  Newman did not specify.  I strongly prefer the lady actually dancing opposite, meaning that she slides her right foot along the line of dance and raises her left foot behind, where she eventually steps at the start of the next measure.  It is considerably easier to lead the Russian Boston with a bit of a twist between beats one and two; the resulting moment in Yale position enables the gentleman to more easily lead the lady into the hop, keeping her weight on her left foot) by the physical lift of his right shoulder and arm.  Leading this when they are mirrored, both of them raising their second foot in front, is more difficult, since there needs to be enough space between them for the dancers to avoid kicking each other, leaving the gentleman with much less physical contact with which to communicate the lead.  While that doesn't matter if both dancers know the variation, I prefer sequences to actually be leadable and followable.

About that odd length: I suspect that there is an error in the description, perhaps repeats omitted or a paragraph left out.  Unfortunately, there's no way of magically determining what Newman might actually have meant.  What follows is just my idea of what a more musical sixteen-bar version would be.  The additions are bolded.

The Russian Boston, modified (sixteen bars of 3/4)
2b    Mazourka Step (slide-cut-hop) twice
2b    Side balance to the left then to the right
4b    Repeat all of the above
1b    step left to the side (1), raise right foot across in front (2), and hop on left (3)
1b    step on right foot (crossed in front) (1), step left to the side (2), and close right with weight (3)
2b    Repeat previous two bars
4b    Boston turn to the right

Music note
There is no specific music for the Russian Boston, but because several of the bars contain three movements, the music needs to be at a more moderate tempo than variations like the Long Boston in which there is only one step to the bar.  I would suggest keeping it no faster than about 140 beats per minute.