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.

Breaking down the sequence, giving the gentleman's steps; the lady dances opposite:

• First bar: step back on the left foot (1), close the right to first and rise on the toes of both feet (2), and fall onto the heels (3), keeping the weight on the left foot.
• Second bar: step back on the right foot (1), point the left foot to second, swiveling to the left on the right foot and rising on the toes of both feet, and fall onto the heels (3), keeping the weight on the right foot.
• Third bar: a box-step waltz half-turn to the left, stepping left forward (1), right to the side (2), and close left to right with weight (3).  

The above constitutes the first "zig", or diagonal line on the diagram at the top, with the little loop at the juncture representing the turn.  Continuing, the gentleman is again moving backwards:

• Fourth bar: step back on the right foot (1), close the left to first and rise on the toes of both feet (2), and fall onto the heels (3), keeping the weight on the right foot.
• Fifth bar: step back on the left foot (1), point the right foot to second, swiveling to the right on the left foot and rising on the toes of both feet, and fall onto the heels (3), keeping the weight on the left foot.
• Sixth bar: a box-step waltz half-turn to the right, stepping right forward (1), left to the side (2), and close right to left with weight (3).  

These three bars constitute the "zag", the second diagonal line, and the little loop at the top of it.  At the end of these three bars, the gentleman should be ready to move backward and the lady forward at the same angle as at the beginning of the sequence.

Here's Newman's step diagram, which I actually found more confusing than helpful at first, since he didn't quite match the angles on the step diagram to the angles of the zig-zags on the earlier one:

Oh, and about the name "Seven-Step".  Newman actually doesn't say, but judging from the diagram above, the seven "steps" are:

1. step back
2. close without weight
3. step back
4. point foot
5. step forward
6. step side
7. close with weight

These might be better called seven movements.

Performance Notes
The mnemonic is "step-rise-fall, step-point-fall, waltz-two-three, step-rise-fall, step-point-fall, waltz-two-three".  In practice, I don't fall all the way down flat onto the heels.  I just go from up on the toes to comfortably almost-flat on the ball of the foot.  In a ladies shoe with a low heel, the heel might touch, but weight stays slightly forward.

It is important to prepare for the turn on the second/fifth bar by swiveling a little while pointing the foot.  The turning motion starts with the gentleman stepping forward along the next diagonal line, not back on the original track.

Likewise important: the lady is always stepping backward on the turn and must take a very short side step on the second beat in order to allow the gentleman to slide past her.  Assuming the dancers know how to perform this waltz, the reverse and natural turns will happen without their having to think about the direction of turn.

To align better with the typical eight-bar strains or four-bar half-strains of most dance music, the dancers can start or end with two bars of some other variation, or keep the six-bar pattern going for twelve or twenty-four bars.

Music Note
This is a fairly "busy" variation; even though the first two of every three measures only involve one weight change, they fill the time with other movements, and every third measure is a full three steps of waltz with a half-turn.  Because of this, I found it more pleasant to dance at a moderate tempo (125-140 beats per minute) rather than the high speed of an all-hesitation-all-the-time variation like the Long Boston.