Here’s a nifty little variation for the half & half, as offered by the Castle Assistants in 1914: the scissors.

To quickly recap: the half & half is danced in 5/4 time, with the dancers taking three steps (on beats 1, 4, and 5) to each measure of music.  There is a lengthy hesitation on the second and third beats.  A more detailed description may be found in my earlier post on basic traveling steps for the half & half.

Dancing the scissors
The scissors begin with the gentleman’s back to line of dance, his right foot free.  He crosses right behind (1), hesitates in the usual half & half style (23), then makes two more steps along the same diagonal toward the wall, left-right (45), turning 90 degrees at the end to prepare for the repeat.  On the next measure, he crosses left behind and travels toward the center.  The lady dances on the opposite feet and always crosses in front on the first beat of a measure.  The dancers should meander gently along the line of dance as they cross back and forth.

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I touched briefly in a previous post on half & half variations on how to easily change the lead foot in this dance, but since the technique applies to other variations as well (and to other dances, for that matter), I thought I would break it out into its own little post.

The two classic ways to switch the lead foot are to either add a step or subtract one.  Subtraction works especially beautifully with the gentle sway of the half & half, and in the 1914 Quinlan Twins description of the dance, it is explicitly recommended:

On counts 4 and 5 of 8th measure, take one step with left foot and pose, leaving right pointed in 2nd position.

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An easy way to liven up the half & half, the 5/4 waltz of the mid-1910s, is to vary the promenade. 

In the basic half & half promenade (previously described here), the dancers take ballroom hold and both face line of dance, gliding forward side by side with half & half step patterns (1…4-5, 1…4-5). 

The second edition of the 1914 compilation Dance Mad offer two easy ways to vary this promenade:

In the Quinlan Twins' description of the half & half, the eighth figure is a more elaborate promenade that alternates dips and foot lifts:

123    Step forward (gent's left/lady's right) and dip to the floor
45      Walk forward two steps
123    Step forward (gent's right/lady's left) and raise free foot to 4th position forward
45      Walk forward two steps

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