The "Lyra Figures", a fancy march cotillion (dance party game) in which the columns of dancers outline the shape of a lyre within a wreath, were published in Twentieth Century Cotillion Figures, by H. Layton Walker (Two Step Publishing Company, Buffalo, New York, 1912). I suspect that, like the Winthrop(e), they were copied from some other source, but I do not currently have any idea what it might have been.
This figure would be somewhat difficult for a ball preceptor to lead "cold", at least without multiple floor managers, but with a lead couple who knew the track, it wouldn't be all that difficult. After a simple march-around lead-in, the leading lady and gentleman stay on their own sides of the room, leading their lines up and down curving tracks to form the shape of the lyre. It might even work with only a single knowledgeable dancer, if their partner were good at moving in mirror image and the room not too crowded for them to see each other at opposite sides. At the end, there is a simple march by platoons to end in facing lines for a waltz or other couple dance.
The Lyra figures were printed with helpful diagrams that make them easy to break down. Be aware that the top of the lyre is at the bottom of the room in these diagrams, so they are upside-down relative to the way a lyre is normally drawn. Presumably the figure is meant to be viewed from the orchestra.
In the diagrams below, the X's represent the gentlemen and the O's represent the ladies.
At the beginning of the march, the column of dancers marches counter-clockwise around the room, gentlemen on the left (inside) and ladies on the right (outside) to top center. They march straight down the center of the room and then cast individually, ladies to the right and gentlemen to the left, to march up the room again. These up-and-down paths represent the strings of the lyre. Note that unless you have an enormous number of dancers (probably more than a ballroom could really accommodate), the entire figure will not ever be outlined at once. The older parts will disappear as the lines of dancers move along their tracks.
After making the strings, the dancers form the body of the lyre and a wreath around it, first making S or reverse-S curves down the room, then retracing those curves at a short distance toward the wall. They then make small horizontal V tracks at the top to form the pedestal, followed by a big loop around the room to form the wreath. At this point they are to pause; hopefully enough of the earlier tracks would remain for the lyre shape to be visible.
There is no diagram for it, but the next figure makes it clear that when they resume the march, the dancers should once again retrace the last set of curves to get back to the top of the set, at which point the fancy figure is over and we merely have a mildly unusual variant on the usual march-in-platoons ending.
At the top of the room, the dancers reunite with their partners and march down the center, turning off at the bottom by couple, with the first couple going to the right and the second to the left and so on. They then march back up the edges of the room and come down the middle in platoons of four dancers, once again turning off alternately right and left at the bottom.
Normally at this point in a march-by-platoons, the dancers would repeat all of that to form platoons of eight, but the Lyra Figures have a different ending. As the dancers wheel in their lines of four, they keep wheeling until they are parallel to the length of the room, the lady or gentleman at the far end pulling their line along single file. As the next set of four comes up and turns, they catch on to the trailing dancer in the previous line on their side, forming a long single line of dancers. They march up the center and end in a straight line facing the parallel line across the room, as in the diagram at left, though there will be a lot more dancers than that in each line. The dancers then move forward to the dancer opposite them and take that person as their partner for a waltz. A two-step would also work, or, if the march is being used for a later 1910s ball, a one-step or possibly even a foxtrot.
This final figure does have one potential problem: if there are a large number of dancers, they won't fit in two facing lines. The simplest solution would be for the dancers to just pair off as soon as they reach the top of the room, not waiting for full lines to form. Alternatively, the preceptor or a floor manager could divide the dancers partway through to make a second set of lines behind the others. After the first lines move forward and take partners, they waltz out of the way so the second lines can do the same.
This figure is meant as a mixer for a cotillion, but if the leading couple were prepared with the tracks, the lyre section of the figures could be inserted into a regular grand march. The mixer element is only in the very last figure, where the dancers wheel into facing lines. Skip that and go to platoons of eight as usual or skip the entire platoon segment and go directly into other figures and it will work just fine. The dancers could even exit the lyre at the top of the wreath (bottom of the room) instead of the bottom (top of the room) instead.
Should dancers not be excited by a lyre, the same basic concept could be used for any fancy figure that can be formed by two lines of dancers moving in mirror image; just alter the tracks. George E. Wilson's "A" figure would work, for example, and be more practical for a smaller number of dancers.
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