Capering & Kickery

February 2023 Gig Calendar

February starts gently for me with an online lecture that is a sort of sequel to one I did in Moscow eight (!!) years ago and one of my regular trips to Boston to DJ before I head off to Europe at the end of the month for a teaching trip to Belgium and Germany that will also take me briefly through Dublin and Amsterdam for research, art, and reunions.

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Wednesday, February 8th ~ ONLINE / Massachusetts-based
Lecture: Ignatius Sancho and Julien Clarchies: Black Men of Letters and Music
for LIRA (Learning in Retirement Association - University of Massachusetts, Lowell)
1:00-3:00pm.  Zoom lecture.  

Tuesday, February 14th ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy (Facebook page) (Facebook group) (Facebook event)
7:30-10:00pm (plus).  Lesson (not me - I don't teach blues!) from 7:30-8:30, then I will be DJing blues from 8:30 until at least 10:00, possibly longer if the dance floor is full!  Indoors with an air cleaner going; masks and proof of vaccination required.  Sliding scale donation, $5 to $20.  Volunteers get free admission!

Friday-Tuesday, February 24-28th ~ Néthen, Belgique (Belgium)
Voyage Dansé: La Révolution américaine, sur les traces d'Outlander (Facebook event)
Four-day dance festival organized by Compagnie Aliquam Amentis centering around American dance from the Boston Tea Party (250th anniversary) to the War of 1812.  Colonial to Federalist, in American terms; Jane Austen to Regency in English.  Dance program will include American cotillions, country dances, and allemande.  Grand costumed ball of the period 1773-1815.  Other creative activities of the era such as sewing and writing will be included as well.  See the event website for tickets.  (This event is mostly sold out for the weekend, but tickets are still available as of early February for the ball and for Monday-Tuesday.)

 

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I am available to travel for in-person dance teaching, lecturing, and ball precepting, pandemic permitting.  I am also still available for private or group online lessons and talks via Skype or Zoom (or your videoconferencing software of choice).  Please email me directly if you would like to schedule an event or workshop!

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Coming in March: I go from Belgium to Germany for Regency-era (more or less) workshops in Munich!

The Bonnie Brae, 1895

In honor of Burns night, here's a simple (and completely American) Scottish-themed "society" dance by Chicago dancing master Robert Alexander Campbell: The Bonnie Brae.  Campbell, also the creator of The Vassar, was credited as both the choreographer of the dance and the composer of the music, though the latter was "harmonized" by Robert Heiss and on the sheet music the dance was co-credited to a Miss Josephine E. Rice.

Interestingly, this time Campbell labeled himself a member of the Western Association Normal School Masters of Dancing rather than the leader of Campbell's Solo Orchestra and apparently no longer felt the need to note that he was the pupil of C. A. Carr.  Also of note: the cover gave not only a Chicago publisher but a London one as well.  Apparently Campbell was moving up in the world!  Though one notes that he did not state on the music that the dance had actually been accepted by the Western Association Normal School, which I discussed briefly here.

"Bonnie Brae" is Gaelic for "pleasant hill", according to this useful article about a street with that name in Los Angeles.  Given his surname, perhaps Campbell came by the Gaelic honestly, or perhaps he just thought the phrase sounded suitably Scottish, a nice match for the tartan-clad dancers on the cover, which may be seen at left (click to enlarge).  The lady at center might be Miss Rice.

Chivers' La Grande Polonaise, 1821 (1818?)

La Grande Polonaise was published as an individual work by G. M. S. Chivers, probably early in 1821.  The first trace of its publication I have found is toward the end of an ad from London's Morning Post on Thursday, March 1st, 1821, for an Assembly to be held the following Monday.  The ad is shown at left; click to enlarge.  [see update note below for more information about the dating of this dance] 

La Grande Polonaise is not on the list of dances definitely planned for the assembly, but the author -- presumably Chivers himself -- noted that "several new Species of Dancing" would also be introduced, so it is possible it was danced at that event.  Its price of two shillings is the same at which it would later be advertised in the back of Chivers' third major book, The Dancing Master in Miniature (1825). 

I am not aware of any surviving copy of the original publication, alas, but the figures for La Grande Polonaise were also printed in Chivers' second book, The Modern Dancing Master (1822).  Chivers' description of the dance from that book:

La GRANDE POLONAISE, is generally thought to have originated in Poland, and it is a favorite Dance of the Polish Nobility.

The dance commences with a Tune in March Time, and terminates with a Sauteuse, and will require at least ten or twelve couple to perform it.

Any number of persons can join in the Dance; observing that there is an even number of couples; and no person should join after the Dance has commenced.

The figure given, is the same as was performed when the Allied Sovereigns were at Aix-la-Chappel.

I am extremely skeptical of Chivers' claim that this was danced at the Congress of Aix-la-Chappelle in 1818.  While the average London dancer might not have been familiar with the polonaise, a musical form and dance in 3/4 time, the Continental attendees probably would have been, and are unlikely to have danced a "polonaise" to march (4/4) music.  I expect they danced a polonaise (probably more than one, as the Congress lasted for two months), but I very much doubt it was this "polonaise".

Given Chivers' track record of choreographic creativity and blithe unconcern for accuracy in labeling dances, however, I do find it perfectly plausible that he created this dance himself and, out of ignorance or deliberate choice, used a march tune and an ordinary marching (walking) step rather than a polonaise step.  I thus consider La Grande Polonaise to be a purely English invention, not a Polish or even French dance, and not representative of early nineteenth century polonaise in general.  Nor, as a niche dance by a specific dancing master, would I expect it to have been widely danced outside London or even outside Chivers' own events.  But for a specifically English ball of the early 1820s, it's reasonable and unusual enough to make a pleasant change of pace.

Saltator's "Promenades"

In the 1802 and 1807 editions of A Treatise on Dancing, the anonymous author, Saltator, provided a list of the "changes" for cotillions with a noticeable departure from the norm.  The mostly-standard list of cotillion changes was as follows:

le grand rond (all eight circle and back)
la main (turn by the right hand, turn by the left hand)
les deux mains (turn by two hands, then the other way)
moulinet des dames (ladies right hands across, left back)
moulinet des cavaliers (gents same)
rond des dames (ladies circle and back)
rond des cavaliers (gents same)
les allemandes (allemande right, allemande left)
le grand rond (same as at the beginning)

There are minor variations here and there; some lists insert a grand chaîne (grand chain) and/or promenade before the final grand rond.  Some lists include "balance and rigadaun" before each change; some don't.  And there are occasionally lists of entirely different changes.  But, in general, this set is pretty standard. 

By way of examples, here are the lists from Le répertoire des bals (La Cuisse, Paris, 1762), which is the earliest full explanation of the cotillion form (called la contredanse in France), and A New Collection of Forty-four Cotillons (Gallini, London, c1770).  Click to enlarge.

La Cuisse numbered the grand round first; Gallini considered that the opening figure (not listed on the page shown) and started his numbering with the right- and left-hand turns.  He also added the two extra changes before the final round.  But the core figures were the same, and in the same order.

January 2023 Gig Calendar

Happy new year!  I wasn't planning to travel for anything but library research this month while I wait out the post-holiday Covid surge and polish a bunch of old and new reconstructions for my European trip in February-March.  But it seems I'm going to Boston to DJ again.  Tomorrow!  Whee!

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Tuesday, January 3rd ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy (Facebook page) (Facebook group) (Facebook event)
7:30-10:00pm (plus).  Lesson (not me - I don't teach blues!) from 7:30-8:30, then I will be DJing blues from 8:30 until at least 10:00, possibly longer if the dance floor is full!  Indoors with an air cleaner going; masks and proof of vaccination required.  Sliding scale donation, $5 to $20.  Volunteers get free admission!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I am available to travel for in-person dance teaching, lecturing, and ball precepting, pandemic permitting.  I am also still available for private or group online lessons and talks via Skype or Zoom (or your videoconferencing software of choice).  Please email me directly if you would like to schedule an event or workshop!

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Coming in February: off to Belgium!