Among the moves described by Vernon and Irene Castle in their Victor Records for Dancing mini-manual (1914) are a trio of moves that are essentially box steps or fragments thereof: a so-called cortez (a.k.a. sentado or syncopated step), a double cortez, and a left-turning waltz. The rhythm is specified as QQS: three steps and hold. These make a nice set of variations to throw into basic walking-trotting sequences and two-step sequences when dancing a 1910s-style foxtrot.
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!
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Sliding Along in the Foxtrot
Over a year ago I discussed some of the earliest walking and trotting patterns found in the earliest sources describing the foxtrot. Among other moves, I touched on the gliding series of chassé steps given in the two sequences in F. L. Clendenen’s Dance Mad (St. Louis, 1914). The sideways glides were done in quick-quick rhythm for each slide-close. The two sequences were:
1. SS-SS-QQQQ-QQQQ twice, followed by four glides (step-closes) QQQQ-QQQQ
2. SS-QQQQ, followed by four glides QQQQ-QQQQ.
The man turns his left side toward the line of dance and the dancers execute a series of four sideways “step-closes” (QQ) along the line of dance. No turn is involved; the first part of the sequence (walking and trotting) restarts on the first foot moving along the line of dance as usual.
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California Bus Stop/California Hustle
Still working my way through my collection of 1970s line dances, here's another one from The Complete Book on Disco and Ballroom Dancing (1979). The California Bus Stop, a.k.a. the California Hustle, is an easy thirty-six-beat dance. It's most notable characteristic is that it features claps and stamps on every fourth beat throughout the first two parts of the dance.
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The Line Walk
Here's another very basic line dance; any Kickery readers planning a 1970s-theme party are going to be all set this week. This one is also from The Complete Book on Disco and Ballroom Dancing (1979). It's thirty-eight beats long, but very easy, though the odd length means it will cross the phrase of the music. That's not unusual in disco-era line dances but drives some people crazy.
Unusually, the Line Walk starts on the left foot.
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The Disco Duck
Yes, here I go again with another easy line dance from The Complete Book on Disco and Ballroom Dancing (1979). I actually like these dances (which date back to my childhood), though I don't usually do them in batches. The immediate excuse for this extended excursion into the 1970s is that I'm going to be teaching an entire session of disco line dances a week or so from now at the Dance Flurry. This one is twice as long as Hot Chocolate/Bonaparte's Retreat (described here and here) and has slightly harder steps and "quick-quick-slow" rhythm sections which make it a more interesting dance.
The obvious music is the song "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees, which was a top Billboard hit for a couple of months in 1976, but it will work to any piece of lively disco music. Happily, the dance does not include any arm-flapping or other duck-like miming.
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Bonaparte’s Retreat
No, this has nothing to do with the Regency era! This is one of a trio of easy line dances I’ve drawn from The Complete Book on Disco and Ballroom Dancing (1979). It’s only sixteen beats long; line dances don’t get any easier than that. The name supposedly derives from the floor pattern of the dance:
…first the dancers mobilize, as they move in a line down the side, then they “retreat” backward and perform a “holding” action, before wheeling to the left and “defending” in another direction.
I find it’s best not to think too deeply about this. The book states that it’s also known as the “Hot Chocolate Line Dance,” and it is in fact the same step pattern as the dance “Hot Chocolate” I described in a previous post. (So yes, this is kind of a cheat of a post; the only new material here is the stuff above.)
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A Polka Quadrille (1893)
By the end of the 19th century, many quadrilles were being published that didn’t follow the earlier form of having multiple separate figures. Although this short dance does have two distinct parts, they are treated as one long figure. The source of the dance is The Prompter’s Handbook by J.A. French, published in Boston in 1893. The original instructions may be seen here. There are significant similarities in the figures to the Waltz Quadrille from the same source, which I described in an earlier post, as well a a generic similarity to other one-figure quadrilles of the late 19th century, which typically involve a mix of very simple figures interspersed with the entire set dancing in couples (waltz, polka, galop, etc., depending on the type of quadrille).
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A Waltz Quadrille (1893)
By the end of the 19th century, quite a number of quadrilles were being published that didn’t follow the earlier form of having multiple separate figures. Although this dance does have two distinct dance parts, the original instructions (which may be seen here) are clear that they should be treated as one long figure:
Play an ordinary waltz and do not stop between the numbers.
The source of the dance is The Prompter’s Handbook by J.A. French, published in Boston in 1893. I haven’t looked for any other sources for this particular set of figures – it’s a trivial little quadrille which I reconstructed in order to have a late-evening set dance that was easy and provided an excuse for plenty of waltzing.
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Another Note on the Early Foxtrot
While searching through a periodicals index I came across an interesting little article that neatly summarizes my previous three foxtrot posts. “How to Dance the Fox Trot” was published in the Los Angeles Times on October 18, 1914. It commends the dance as
the most simple of all the new dances. If you were discouraged when you tackled the tango or maxixe, here is a dance that every one can dance and enjoy with practically no mental exertion.
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Fancy Little Foxtrot
This is a nifty little move from the short Bassett/Elliott film, “The Much Talked About ‘Fox Trot’ ” (dated 1916) and is unlike anything else I’ve ever seen in a 1910s foxtrot: it actually has a hop. A hop in the foxtrot! That should startle anyone watching you. The sequence isn’t terribly difficult and should be accessible once a dancer is past the complete-novice stage.