Four Tiny Polka Redowa Variations

Believe it or not, even I get a little bit tired of going through the seemingly endless list of insignificant couple dance variations published in M. B. Gilbert's Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) and reprinted in French in G. W. Lopp's La Danse (Paris, 1903).  Studying all of them is important for my overall project of analyzing late nineteenth century American couple dance variations, but a lot of them are just trivial as individual dances, though still useful as data points and material for improvisation. 

As with my trio of tiny galop variations a few years ago, here are four dances that fall in the mazurka/redowa classification that just don't have enough to them to warrant individual posts.

What these four have in common:

• They are all based around the polka redowa (polka in 3/4 time): (hop) slide-cut-leap, counted &123.  While three of the four are called mazurkas, they have very little obvious mazurka in them and a great deal of polka redowa; hence my post title.  All four will work to redowa and mazurka music in general.  Gilbert and Lopp both specify a tempo of 144 beats per minute for that entire genre of music.
  
  
• They almost certainly all have matching sheet music, their names being the names of the tune they were originally attached to.  But the music hasn't emerged in my searches so far, the dances are regular enough in pattern that specific music isn't critical, and they just aren't interesting enough for me to devote a lot of time to continued searching.  If the music turns up, it turns up.  If not, these make easy variations for improvisation.
  
  
• They all appear in both Gilbert and Lopp, and the descriptions match with only insignificant exceptions.
  
  
• They present no reconstruction issues.
  
  

So, in the interest of efficiency, here are the four dances, with brief notes about each.

So, in the interest of efficiency, here are the four dances, with brief notes about each.

In all cases, the starting foot is the left foot for the gentleman and the right foot for the lady.  

The Ocean (four bars), by W. F. Mittman
Starting position: side by side holding inside hands and facing line of dance
2 bars    Polka redowa forward (&123 &123)
(take closed ballroom hold)
2 bars    Polka redowa, one complete turn (&123 &123)
(open up into side by side holding hands to repeat)

This is distinct from plain-old-polka-redowa only in that it starts out holding hands, making it mildly annoying to repeat, since the dancers must get out of closed hold and shift to holding hands very quickly.  The turning on the polka redowa is not stated directly in Gilbert, but I am confident that that is what was intended.

Lopp's description (L'Océan (Mazurka)) at first appears to be startlingly different, a lengthy sequence of which this is only the first part.  But a closer look reveals a printing error in Lopp: two dance descriptions have been stuck together.  Only the first few lines are L'Océan, and they match perfectly except that Lopp actually specifies the turn on the last two measures.

Mittman was a Chicago-based dancing master. 

Harriet Mazurka (eight bars), by B. F. McDaniel
Starting position: side by side holding inside hands and facing line of dance
1 bar        Point first foot to 2nd position (1), bring it back 5th (2), point to 2nd again (3)
1 bar        Slide first foot forward (1), second foot forward (2), and close second foot to 1st (3)
2 bars      Repeat all of the above, starting with the second foot
(take closed ballroom hold)
4 bars      Polka redowa, two complete turns (&123 &123 &123 &123)
(open up into side by side holding hands to repeat)  

This has the same annoyance as The Ocean in changing holds to repeat, but at least there's more to do in both halves of it.  Once again, the turning is only implied, but the pattern of this sort of sequence dance is straight movement for the first half followed by turning in the second half.

I know nothing about McDaniel except that he was based in Dubuque, Iowa. 

Lopp's translation (La Harriet Mazurka) mostly matches, but after the two sliding steps forward he put the close of foot as to 2nd position, which does not match what was in Gilbert and in any case makes no sense.  This is most likely simply a mistake, not a variation.

Spanish Mazurka (four bars), by J. G. Hoffman
Starting position: normal closed ballroom hold, gentleman's back to the center of the room
1        Slide first foot along line of dance
2        Close second foot to first
3        Hop on second foot, bring first in front (3rd position, raised)
123    Polka redowa half-turn (see notes below)
Repeat all of the above starting with the second foot (two bars)

Finally, one in which the dancers don't have to change holds!  This would be identical to the basic polka mazurka except that the second count is a sedate close of the foot rather than a cut, and there is no option for a heel-click on the hop.  The turning is specified.  I would omit the hop at the beginning of the polka redowa, as is done in the polka mazurka, since there is already a hop at the end of the previous measure.

J. G. Hoffman was a dancing master from Waverly, New York.  There is nothing noticeably Spanish about any of the steps of the Spanish Mazurka; perhaps the tune had some Spanish element, or at least a Spanish scene or person on the cover.  Lopp's version (La Mazurka Espagnole) is identical.

 

Glide Mazurka (eight bars), by E. W. Masters
Starting position: normal closed ballroom hold, gentleman's back to the center of the room
1           Slide first foot to 2nd position along line of dance
&2        Chassé with second foot, sliding first foot to 2nd position again
3           Close right foot to left in 1st position
1&23    Repeat
1&23    Repeat
&123    Polka redowa half-turn
Repeat all of the above starting with the second foot to complete the turn (four bars)

The Glide Mazurka is a stretched out version of the York, minus the option of the heel-clicking ornament at the start of the polka redowa.  Instead of one measure along the line of dance, there are three, then the half-turn (stated) with polka redowa.  It's like the York version of the first half of La Coska, and it is entirely leadable to anyone who knows the York.  Lopp's description of the dance (La Mazurka Glissée) is identical.

Masters also created the five-step schottische (a somewhat more interesting and significantly more popular dance) and the sequence dance A L'Avenir.

In all cases, the starting foot is the left foot for the gentleman and the right foot for the lady.  

The Ocean (four bars), by W. F. Mittman
Starting position: side by side holding inside hands and facing line of dance
2 bars    Polka redowa forward (&123 &123)
(take closed ballroom hold)
2 bars    Polka redowa, one complete turn (&123 &123)
(open up into side by side holding hands to repeat)

This is distinct from plain-old-polka-redowa only in that it starts out holding hands, making it mildly annoying to repeat, since the dancers must get out of closed hold and shift to holding hands very quickly.  The turning on the polka redowa is not stated directly in Gilbert, but I am confident that that is what was intended.

Lopp's description (L'Océan (Mazurka)) at first appears to be startlingly different, a lengthy sequence of which this is only the first part.  But a closer look reveals a printing error in Lopp: two dance descriptions have been stuck together.  Only the first few lines are L'Océan, and they match perfectly except that Lopp actually specifies the turn on the last two measures.

Mittman was a Chicago-based dancing master. 

Harriet Mazurka (eight bars), by B. F. McDaniel
Starting position: side by side holding inside hands and facing line of dance
1 bar        Point first foot to 2nd position (1), bring it back 5th (2), point to 2nd again (3)
1 bar        Slide first foot forward (1), second foot forward (2), and close second foot to 1st (3)
2 bars      Repeat all of the above, starting with the second foot
(take closed ballroom hold)
4 bars      Polka redowa, two complete turns (&123 &123 &123 &123)
(open up into side by side holding hands to repeat)  

This has the same annoyance as The Ocean in changing holds to repeat, but at least there's more to do in both halves of it.  Once again, the turning is only implied, but the pattern of this sort of sequence dance is straight movement for the first half followed by turning in the second half.

I know nothing about McDaniel except that he was based in Dubuque, Iowa. 

Lopp's translation (La Harriet Mazurka) mostly matches, but after the two sliding steps forward he put the close of foot as to 2nd position, which does not match what was in Gilbert and in any case makes no sense.  This is most likely simply a mistake, not a variation.

Spanish Mazurka (four bars), by J. G. Hoffman
Starting position: normal closed ballroom hold, gentleman's back to the center of the room
1        Slide first foot along line of dance
2        Close second foot to first
3        Hop on second foot, bring first in front (3rd position, raised)
123    Polka redowa half-turn (see notes below)
Repeat all of the above starting with the second foot (two bars)

Finally, one in which the dancers don't have to change holds!  This would be identical to the basic polka mazurka except that the second count is a sedate close of the foot rather than a cut, and there is no option for a heel-click on the hop.  The turning is specified.  I would omit the hop at the beginning of the polka redowa, as is done in the polka mazurka, since there is already a hop at the end of the previous measure.

J. G. Hoffman was a dancing master from Waverly, New York.  There is nothing noticeably Spanish about any of the steps of the Spanish Mazurka; perhaps the tune had some Spanish element, or at least a Spanish scene or person on the cover.  Lopp's version (La Mazurka Espagnole) is identical.

 

Glide Mazurka (eight bars), by E. W. Masters
Starting position: normal closed ballroom hold, gentleman's back to the center of the room
1           Slide first foot to 2nd position along line of dance
&2        Chassé with second foot, sliding first foot to 2nd position again
3           Close right foot to left in 1st position
1&23    Repeat
1&23    Repeat
&123    Polka redowa half-turn
Repeat all of the above starting with the second foot to complete the turn (four bars)

The Glide Mazurka is a stretched out version of the York, minus the option of the heel-clicking ornament at the start of the polka redowa.  Instead of one measure along the line of dance, there are three, then the half-turn (stated) with polka redowa.  It's like the York version of the first half of La Coska, and it is entirely leadable to anyone who knows the York.  Lopp's description of the dance (La Mazurka Glissée) is identical.

Masters also created the five-step schottische (a somewhat more interesting and significantly more popular dance) and the sequence dance A L'Avenir.