In his 1914 manual, Dances of To-day, Philadelphia dancing master Albert W. Newman describes a four-bar waltz variation he calls the Five-Step Boston or Five-Step Waltz. Unlike the five-step waltz of the mid-19th century or the half-and-half of the 1910s, this waltz is done in the usual 3/4 waltz time, spreading five movements out over the six counts of music. This is a hesitation waltz movement, well-suited the fast waltzes of the early 20th century. It is easy to learn and provides a pleasant break from constant fast spinning.
Category: 1910s
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The Pan-American Glide (a 1910s Schottische)
An early anniversary gift for Michelle & Peter, who asked about 1910s schottisches:
By the 1910s, the schottische had almost complete vanished from the ballroom floor. But a few dancing masters were still creating variations, among them the “Pan-American Glide,” published in the F. Leslie Clendenen’s collection Dance Mad, or the Dances of the Day in St. Louis in 1914. It is attributed to F.W. Bouley.
The name of the dance does not signify anything special about it choreographically. It appears to merely be one of many uses of the term “Pan-American” in the early 20th century, playing off of the Pan American Union (so named in 1910) and the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.
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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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The Mistletoe Hesitation
The Mistletoe Hesitation is a lovely little sixteen-bar hesitation waltz sequence originally published in F. Leslie Clendenen’s Dance Mad, or the dances of the day (St. Louis, 1914), a collection of dances and dance moves borrowed liberally from other dance teachers and manuals. The Mistletoe is attributed to M.W. Cain and is one of the earliest uses I have found of a twinkle step.
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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.
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Quick-Quick-Slow: The Two-Step Infiltrates the Foxtrot
In my previous foxtrot post I covered the basic walking and trotting patterns of the early foxtrot of the 1910s. These patterns are characterized by alternating series of slow (S) or quick (Q) steps, simple traveling interspersed with occasional sideways glides or half-turns, and consistently starting on the same foot (gentleman’s left, lady’s right). This simple foxtrot was complicated almost immediately by variations of rhythm, most notably the “quick-quick-slow” (QQS, or “one-and-two (pause)”) rhythm of the 19th-century two-step and polka. This post will discuss some of the variations introduced in the pre-1920 foxtrot as described by dancing masters Maurice Mouvet (1915) and Charles Coll (1919) and demonstrated by Clay Bassett and Catherine Elliott on film (1916).
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Basic Walking & Trotting Patterns in the 1910s Foxtrot
“What particular resemblance does the gait of a fox have to this dance?”
— spectator watching trotters, as quoted in Maurice’s Art of Dancing, 1915It’s a reasonable question. The foxtrot evolved so rapidly after its debut in 1913-1914 that it can be difficult to sort out the earliest versions of the dance and derive an accurate picture of the foxtrot as danced in the 1910s.
Directions for dancing the foxtrot first began appearing in print in
1914. While it did not appear in Vernon and Irene Castle’s 1914 work, Modern Dancing, the Castles did include it that year in the booklet Victor Records for Dancing. Two brief descriptions were also published in F. L. Clenenden’s compendium, Dance Mad, also published in 1914, in St. Louis. In 1915, Maurice Mouvet published his description of the foxtrot in Maurice’s Art of Dancing, followed in 1919 by Charles Coll in Dancing Made Easy (link is to the 1922 reprint).In addition to these written sources, a brief silent film clip dated 1916 shows dance instructors Clay Bassett and Catherine Elliott demonstrating “The Much Talked About ‘Fox Trot’.”
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The Half & Half: Basic Traveling Steps
- Era: 1910s
The half and half, a hesitation waltz danced in 5/4 time, was one of those novelties that appeared and vanished quickly in 1914. There may be as many people alive now who know how to dance it as ever danced it in its own era! It is also handicapped by having very few surviving pieces of music in the right time signature. Today’s experienced historical social dancers can probably hum the eponymous “Half and Half” from memory. Sources describing the dance are equally difficult to come by; I have only three in my collection, though one of them, Dance Mad, generously provides four separate descriptions.
Click here to listen to a half and half tune in 5/4 time.
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Hesitate, Hesitate, Hesitate!
- Era: 1910s
- Dance: One-Step
In his 1914 manual, Dances of To-day, Philadelphia dancing master Albert W. Newman describes three different hesitations suitable for the one-step or Castle walk. In one description he notes that a hesitation is
…most practical, especially when one finds himself in a decidedly congested position, surrounded on all sides by merry dancers…it is the same as marking the time of the music, as the dancers execute the movement sur la place (on the spot).
Because of this practicality, hesitations are one of the first things I teach new dancers of the one-step. Here are Newman’s three hesitations for your dancing pleasure!
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Corte Mad
- Era: 1910s
- Dance: tango
In the interest of not losing my mind, I’m going to be writing more
short posts interspersed with the longer articles that cover entire
dances. Today, a lovely little move for your 1910s tango.Many teachers labor under the impression that the “Argentine” consists of one dance only, which is not true, it is a dance of great variety of movements…The Argentine of today embraces about as many varieties as there are dancers, owing perhaps, to the natural desire of our American dancers to be “inventors.”
— F. Leslie Clendenen, Dance Mad, or the dances of the day, St. Louis, Missouri, 1914
