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.

Compare with Saltator's list below, which I have edited down to just the actual figures:

1. All eight circinate one way, then back the other
2. Promenade partners with right hand, then left
3. Circinate partners on the right, then left
4. Allemande right, then left
5. Ladies moulinet
6. Gentlemen moulinet
7. Ladies circinate, then back
8. Gentlemen circinate, then back
9. All eight right and left quite round
10. All eight circinate, then back

I think it's reasonably obvious that "circinate" was Saltator's personal word for "take hands in a circle and go round", or, in #3, just take two hands with your partner and turn.  Saltator actually gave the latter definition in his list of country dance figures.  Other minor variations are the earlier placement of the allemandes and the addition of a grand chain ("right and left") as #9 before the final grand round.  Both of these were within the normal range of variation of cotillion changes.  

The real oddity is the term "promenade" in #2.  There was a standard meaning for "promenade" in cotillions and quadrilles: couples joined hands in various ways and moved around the set as a pair.  But when used in cotillions, it was generally one of the final changes, and only went one way.  The full Saltator wording could mean all couples promenade around the set, then turn and come back:

Change 2d.  All dance address to partners, promenade them round with the right hand, dance address, promenade round with the left hand.

("dance address" parallels "balance and rigadaun" as a setting sequence preceding the change)

But for anyone familiar with cotillions and changes, the replacement of the very, very standard right and left hand turns, the very, very customary first change after the grand round, with a promenade is...eyebrow-raising, to say the least.  Was that really what Saltator meant?

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Saltator's two treatises are difficult sources to work with.  He had his own odd little list of step-names and a notation system that makes them difficult to reconstruct.  His lists of dance figures were badly edited and used inconsistent terminology, likely because, particularly in the 1807 edition, he was copying them from different sources without standardizing the figure names. 

Keeping the above in mind, let's take a look at what Saltator said about "promenade" and how he actually used it in dances.

For starters, he defined the term in his list of country dance figures in the 1802 edition:

PROMENADE, is to lead with one hand, or both hands, a lady from one place to another, or round any number of the choir

("choir" was his word for the whole set)

That definitely sounds like a standard promenade.  And the way he used the term in cotillion figures (not changes) doesn't contradict this:

• all prominade [sic] partners to the centre  ("Miss Greene's Favorite")
  
  
• partners prominade [sic] round with the right hand....with the left hand ("La Chantelle")
  
  
• all eight prominade [sic] their partners half round, so as to form two lines across the hall with four in each...prominade [sic] round into their first places on side lines of the room ("Fancy Cotillion")

One would have to reconstruct each cotillion fully to be absolutely certain, but looking over the  full figures, it doesn't seem completely impossible that each could be a standard-issue promenade.

But when one looks at his country dance figures, it gets a little trickier.  I'm not going to cite every single usage in a country dance figure (though I made a list!) but here are two of note because they were popular tune/figure combinations found in many sources:

Money Musk.
First couple cross over, down the out side, promenade round the gentleman fall between the second couple, the lady between the third, six dance address, first couple promenade and fall below the second, six demicircinate, right and left atop.

Compare the near-contemporary description from A selection of cotillons & country-dances...accompanied with appropriate figures and rules for dancing cotillons (Boston, 1808):

Money Musk.
Cross over and down outside below third couple; join hands and turn, the gentleman coming in at the top and his partner at the bottom; six balance cross wise; first couple turn to their places, six hands round and back again, right and left at top.

This is very typical of the many publications of these figures with Money Musk: the lead couples turned to places.  Not promenaded.  While many of Saltator's uses of "promenade" could be interpreted different ways, it seems to me very likely that in this case, Saltator was using "promenade" simply to mean "turn by the hand".  That's the figure found in other sources for the dance, and how it is still done today, as may be seen in modern contra style here, though the dance figures themselves have evolved a bit.

Likewise, look at another classic and widely published figure:

Chorus Jig.
First couple down the outside, up, down the middle, up brise, promenade contrary corners, first couple dance address, change sides.

(brisé was the term Saltator used for casting off)

I suppose one could promenade in the conventional sense with one's contrary corners, though it would be something of a squeeze in a country dance set.  But, once again, compare it with the figure as found in the near-contemporary A Guide to Politeness . . . with a variety of Approved sets of Cotillions and Contra Dances by Francis D. Nichols (Boston, 1810):

Chorus Jigg.
First couple chasse down out side and back; chasse down in the middle, up and cast off; turn contrary corners, then set to your partner and change sides.

Here we have the absolutely standard turn contrary corners figure that is still found in Chorus Jig to this day; you can see it on video with modern contra dance flourishes here.

Saltator's wording was often odd, but his country dances were pretty conventional.  I don't think he intended to make up interesting new figures like "promenade contrary corners".  I think that periodically, he just used "promenade" to mean "turn by the hand".

Moving on to the 1807 edition, it gets even more interesting.  First, he gave two definitions for promenade:

1st. PROMENADE, is one, two, three or more ladies or gentlemen chasse round, as many more, on the opposite side, facing them at the same time.

2nd. PROMENADE, is to lead with one hand, or both hands, a lady from one place to another, or round any number of the choir.

This doesn't help much!  The first definition seems to be the standard ladies lead round/gents lead round figure.  The second one is the same as in the 1802 edition.  He uses the term in both senses, but he also uses other terms for the same figures, so we have, for example:

Go to the Devil and Shake yourself.
Three Ladies promenade round three Gentlemen, three Gentlemen promenade round three Ladies, first could down the middle, up, cast off, right and left.

Halfmoon.
Three Ladies draw round three Gentlemen, Gentlemen do the same, first couple lead down in the middle, up, cast off, right and left.

Devil's Dream.
Three Ladies pass round their partners, then their partners round them, first couple down the middle, back brise, right and left.

What a Beau your Granny was.
The three Ladies lead round the three Gentlemen, at the same time the three Gentlemen set and three hands round, the three Gentlemen lead round the three Ladies, at the same time the three Ladies set and hands three round, the first couple pousette with the second couple into the second couple's places, and turn their partners half round with both hands, right and left a top.

Remember when I said above that his terminology was inconsistent?  This is a perfect example: four different terms (promenade, draw, pass, lead), but it's all the same figure!

Let's look at one more set of figures, which appeared with the same wording in both editions:

Malling the Wad.
First lady promenade the second gentleman, first gentleman the second lady, first couple down the middle, up brise.

The title is a misspelling of the known tune "Moll in the Wad".  The figures, once again, look distinctly odd if one interprets "promenade" in the conventional way, but very typical if one interprets them as "turn": the first lady turns the second gentleman, the first gentleman the second lady.  It's a very standard figure for this period. 

In yet another example of careless editing, look what also appears in the 1807 edition:

Moll in the Wad.
Turn opposite corners, down the middle, up cast off.

"Turn opposite corners" is an odd way of phrasing it (have I mentioned that Saltator is an odd source?) but I don't think there's any other way to interpret it than the first lady/second gent, first gent/second lady turns.  It's a very terse version of the same figures.

(There's also a "Molly Wad", which is probably yet another corruption of the title, in the 1807 edition, but it is set with completely different figures not relevant to this discussion.)

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So what can we conclude from this little jaunt through Saltator's books?  

• Saltator's terminology was wildly inconsistent
  
  
• Saltator used "promenade" to mean different figures
  
  
• One of those figures was a simple turn by the hand
  
  
• When reconstructing from Saltator, one has to depend on context and the practical aspects of performing the figures to determine the meaning of "promenade"

And that brings us back to where we started: the cotillion change.  In light of the above conclusions, it's not at all safe to assume "promenade" meant a conventional promenade.  So let's look at the context:

• it is the change following the grand round in an otherwise fairly conventional list of cotillion changes in which that change is usually turn by the right and left hands
  
  
• it uses the right hand/left hand terms just like the standard change

While it's impossible to be 100% certain, I believe it is most likely that the correct answer for the cotillion change is that what Saltator really meant was turn.  The change was the conventional one, just oddly worded.  I would also apply this solution in other instances in Saltator where the "promenade" is followed by specifying the hand, especially in a right hand/left hand sequence.