Capering & Kickery

Pittsburgh Star, 1912

Like the Winthrop(e), the Pittsburgh Star is a cotillion (dance party game) figure in the guise of a march sequence which was published in H. Layton Walker's Twentieth Century Cotillion Figures (Two Step Publishing Company, Buffalo, New York, 1912).  It was most likely copied from some other source; based on the apparent origin of the Winthrop, the original might have appeared in a publication of the National Association of Dancing Masters after a meeting in Pittsburgh. 

The Pittsburgh Star differs from the Winthrop, however, in incorporating the mixer element into the march sequence, which I find more interesting as a figure, rather than by having the dancers seek new partners before beginning the march.

Here are the original instructions for the figure followed by the two diagrams.  Note when reading the directions that "up" is toward the bottom of the diagrams.

PITTSBURGH STAR.
All two-step.  Signal, all march up centre of hall.  All mark time when in middle.  First couple forward in line of direction.  Second couple turn to right; second [third] couple turn to left.  Repeat this until four couples are in front, four on right side, four on left side, and four in back.  This forms the cross.  The four couples in back now wheel round and face other way, thus: [diagram on left]  Now, in single file, [ladies] march to right, gentlemen to left, meeting and going to centre, forming thus: [diagram on right] and all two-step with that person.

I corrected "second" with [third] where it was needed and interpolated [ladies] where it was obvious from the diagrams that it had been left out.

The Canteen Canter, 1918

The Canteen Canter was a specialty dance choreographed by Oscar Duryea to the music of Case White and published in 1918 as a "cantonment one-step", a cantonment being a military camp or garrison.  (More information about cantonments in the United States during World War I may be found here.) 

The cover image, shown at left (click to enlarge) makes the association obvious, though there is nothing particularly military or terribly unusual about the dance itself.  Given its name, it is appropriate that it prominently features canter steps.

Rather than a fixed choreography, this is a set of, for want of a better term, figures, short sequences of four bars that can be repeated as often as one likes to fill up the music.  The sequences are simple - walking steps with the occasional cross of the foot, basic box-step and spin turns, and of course the "canter steps", essentially the lame duck.

The original sheet music, with dance instructions, is online here as part of the Lee Schreiner Sheet Music Collection at Northern Illinois University.

I don't have a proper recording of the music, but a computer-generated version of it has been uploaded by Dorian Henry to his YouTube channel (RagtimeDorianHenry), so one can at least get an idea of how the piece, written in 6/8, sounds:

It's a fun piece, and proper musicians could make much more of it.

On to the actual dance!

The Seven-Step Boston (Newman's Boston Variations)

Still working my way slowly through Albert W. Newman's collection of Boston variations...

The Seven-Step Boston was another variation published by Newman in Dances of to-day (Philadelphia, 1914).  Newman attributed it to the noted English dancing master R. M. Crompton.  Like the Russian Boston, it did not make it into Dance Mad , the compendium of dances and dance sequences published by F. Leslie Clendenen in St. Louis in 1914.

Like the Boston Spanish and Herring Bone Boston, the Seven-Step Boston zig-zags along the line of dance, as shown in the diagram above.  Unlike those two variations, in the Seven-Step Boston the dancers actually make half-turns, so that each "zig" or "zag" starts with the gentleman dancing backward and the lady forward.  It's also musically odd, in that each "zig" or "zag" takes three measures of music, with the pattern repeating every six measures.  And the steps combine elements of the Long Boston, Newman's Original Boston, and both natural and reverse waltz half-turns.  That's a lot to squeeze into a single sequence, but once I got comfortable with it, I found it very enjoyable to dance.

November 2021 Gig Calendar

Back in the ballroom at last!  This month I will return to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for a Remembrance Day Ball (though in a different location and with a different organizer than in previous years) as well as doing a presentation for an online conference in the UK.  I'll squeeze in a research jaunt around the Gettysburg trip and expect to spend time early in the month sewing a new costume for it since my ballgown is (sigh) still in Moscow.  I'm so excited to get back on the dance floor in costume for the first time since early March, 2020!

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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Sunday, November 14th ~ ONLINE / Connecticut-based
Dance Historian Meetup
11:00am-2:00pm.  Private event.

Saturday, November 21st ~ Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Remembrance Day Ball hosted by Civil War Lady / Joy Melcher
In person!  American Civil War-era dinner and ball.  I will be calling the dancing to live music by the Susquehanna Travellers.  This is not my usual Remembrance Day Ball, which is still on pandemic hiatus; this is a different organizer and location.  Tickets $40; Covid vaccination strongly recommended.  See the website for registration and hotel information.

Saturday-Sunday, November 27-28th ~ ONLINE / UK-based
An Assembly for Jane Austen
An online conference run by the UK's Historical Dance Society (Facebook page) with historians, dance researchers, and practitioners giving Austen-themed presentations.  There will also be an evening soiree with a nautical theme with live music by Green Ginger's Meryl and Ian Thomson and prompting by Lizzy Curzon.  I will be speaking at 4:20pm (UK time!) Saturday on the history of the Boulanger, the only dance mentioned by name in Jane Austen's works and letters.  Tickets £20; register here.

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I am available for private or group 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 November: a real, in-person ball in Gettysburg and an online Jane Austen conference in the UK!