Capering & Kickery

Susan de Guardiola, Social Dance Historian

Welcome to the original-format Capering & Kickery blog! Due to the Typepad shutdown in September and the resultant move to WordPress, the entire post archive is not yet available, as each post must be individually edited (formatting, images, music, videos, links, etc.) and indexed before it is restored. Please check back regularly over the next few months to see the progress in rejuvenating the blog!

Note: in the restored posts below, most of the internal links (to other Kickery posts) will remain down until the linked post is also restored. If you have a request to prioritize a particular post or set of posts, please contact me at the email above!

Post Archive

June 12, 2014

Tales of the Schottische from Godey’s Lady’s Book

A comment from one of my Russian correspondents that the schottische was rarely, if ever, danced in Russia in the nineteenth century* started me thinking, after a series of mental jumps**, about how well-accepted (or not) the schottische was in America in its early years.

There appears to have been some dissension on the merits of the dance after its introduction to America around 1849. Edmund Ferrero claimed in The art of dancing (New York, 1859) that the schottische had “acquired great favor”, and all the major dance manuals from the end of the 1850s onward include it. But the anonymous author of Beadle’s dime ball-room companion and guide to dancing (New York, 1868) claimed that the schottische was considered “vulgar”. Since it appeared regularly on dance cards from at least the late 1850s all the way into the early twentieth century, that can’t have been a universal opinion. But was it really anyone’s other than, presumably, those of ministers and others who condemned dancing altogether?

(more…)
June 9, 2014

Early Foxtrot: The Newburgh

The Newburgh is a longer and more complicated foxtrot sequence taken from Edna Stuart Lee’s Thirty Fox Trot Steps (New York, 1916). Like her Left Glide, it changes the lead foot against the music, with same opportunities and issues previously discussed for that move.

As is typical, the gentleman starts on the left foot, moving forward, and the lady on the right foot, moving backward. The steps below are the gentleman’s steps; reverse everything for the lady. The numbers are beats, not measures.

The Newburgh
12345    five walking steps (left, right, left, right)
6            cross right over left (lady crosses left behind right)
7&8       two-step (left-right-left)

1            cross right over left  (lady crosses left behind right)
2&3       two-step (left-right-left)
4            cross right over left (lady crosses left behind right)
5&6       two-step (left-right-left)
7            step side right

(more…)
June 5, 2014

Early Foxtrot: Slides & Glides, 1916

Continuing on with my little celebration of the centennial year of the foxtrot:

I’ve discussed before how the two-step and sliding sequences similar to the four-slide galop of the nineteenth century were incorporated into the foxtrot in its earliest years. Other than one 1919 variation from Charles Coll, the two-step sequences described were generally symmetrical, with even numbers of two-steps either in sequence or broken up by walking steps. Slides were generally done in sets of four.

Here’s another pair of simple “glides” from Edna Stuart Lee’s Thirty Fox Trot Steps (New York, 1916) that break that pattern with single two-steps and a set of three slides. The “Right Glide” and “Left Glide” are very accessible variations for foxtrot beginners.

(more…)
May 19, 2014

Cross Steps in the Early Foxtrot

Rounding out my little miniseries celebrating the centennial of the first burst of popularity for the foxtrot, here’s another pair of variations from Edna Stuart Lee’s Thirty Fox Trot Steps (New York, 1916) that each feature a moment when one foot crosses over the other.

The “Side Swing” starts with the usual four walking steps, followed by a pair of quick-quick-slow moves. The first quick-quick-slow moves diagonally forward to the left (back to the right for the lady), but instead of being a two-step, the sequence is step forward – cross in front – step forward. The second quick-quick-slow is an actual two-step, done to the right, with my preference being for a slight diagonal angle rather than directly out toward the wall of the room. Here’s the gentleman’s step sequence:

1234    Four walking steps (starting left)
1&2     Step diagonally forward left, cross right over left, step forward left
3&4     Two-step (step-close-step, not turning, starting right)

(more…)
May 15, 2014

Two Easy Foxtrot Hesitations

Continuing my little foxtrot miniseries, here are two more very easy hesitation variations from Edna Stuart Lee’s Thirty Fox Trot Steps (New York, 1916).

The “Rock-a-Bye” is a single hesitation, as described for the one-step by Albert Newman in Dances of To-day (Philadelphia, 1914), but done twice at double speed with four walking steps as a preface. What that actually means in practice:

1234    Four walking steps (starting left)
1&       Step forward left, rock back onto right foot
2&       Rock forward onto left, rock back onto right

These are the gentleman’s steps; the lady starts on the right foot and moves backward along line of dance.

(more…)
May 12, 2014

Twinkle, Twinkle: Fast and Slow
Era: 1910s

Dances: Foxtrot, One-Step, Hesitation Waltz
2014 marks one hundred years since the foxtrot made its first big splash, so it’s very timely for me to have come across a copy of Edna Stuart Lee’s Thirty Fox Trot Steps (New York, 1916). This is by far the largest single collection of 1910 foxtrot step sequences I’ve ever found in one place, and many of them are completely new to me.

Lee’s sequences were billed as “suitable for the ballroom, gymnasium, or playground, as well as for private exercise at home, either with or without a partner.” While several of them match foxtrot variations that I’ve previously discussed, they’re given a poetic new set of names. Can anyone guess which common sequences Lee endows with names like the Meditation Glide, Barcarolle, and Viola Dana?

(more…)
April 28, 2014

Two-Stepping en français

As previously noted, European descriptions of American dances like the late nineteenth-century two-step are sometimes more helpful than American ones. Having spent more time than expected this past weekend speaking French in Toronto (with a bunch of folks from Montréal), I’m inspired today to point out a couple of American-influenced descriptions of the two-step from Paris around 1900.

(more…)
March 20, 2014

Half & Half Variations: A Complex Hesitation

Wrapping up my little half & half miniseries, here's a wacky little sequence that throws in everything but the kitchen sink: a hesitation, travel, turning, and a change of lead foot. This is from the Quinlan Twins description of the half & half in the 1914 compilation Dance Mad, second edition. The only name given it is the deceptively bland "Seventh Figure".

The sequence is unusual in two other ways as well: odd and even measures have different rhythm patterns, and it appears that both measure have no step on the fifth count, an unusual departure from the standard 1…4,5 half & half rhythm pattern. All of this makes it not particularly beginner-friendly.

(more…)
March 17, 2014

Half & Half Variations: The Scissors

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.

(more…)
March 13, 2014

Half & Half: Switching the Lead Foot

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.

(more…)