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THE ROUND DANCES |
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scorn for all "note-readers" he said he could not play that tune and broke into "Where, oh where is my little dog gone" in perfect waltz time, and it served just as well. He likes the waltz and now he always trots the little dog out and makes them wTaltz whenever he plays the Varsouvianna.
In the printed score the last variation following the waltz is perfectly authentic and is often heard in the West. It should be used for the second Varsouvianna step. But the first thirty-two measures of the printed score should best be omitted altogether.
This lovely dance is coming back in Western society. For several years they have been dancing it with a Spanish tempo in the ballroom of La Fonda, the leading hotel in Santa Fe. And in many of society's dances in Denver it is being introduced as a special number, though it is danced in its simplest form, over and over, and without the graceful relief of the waltz.
This simple standard form is danced as follows; the couple stands side by side, the man a little behind his lady. He holds her left hand in his left, shoulder high, and reaching across her right shoulder he holds her raised right hand lightly in his right. The two keep in step with each other, for the present. Later they will use opposite feet.
With their weight on their left feet they stand with their right toes pointed forward and touching the floor to the right. On the first note of the music (an introductory note, the third beat of the previous bar) they each sweep the right foot back over the left instep, dipping the left knee slightly as they do so. On the next count (the first beat of the new bar) they point the right foot out to the right front, again touching the floor with the toe, and on the next count step in behind the right with the left foot. Then they each repeat with the same feet (the right) to the same side, sweep, point, step. The third time they again sweep back with the right, point with the right, and step with the left. (But instead of stepping in close behind the right with the left they this time step to the left side with the left foot.) On the next count they close the right foot in behind the left, and on the next count point the left foot, the toe touching the floor, out to the front and to the left. That is, they both make a crossover to the left. And as they do this left step-cross-point— the lady takes fairly long steps while the man takes very short steps and passes his partner over in front of him |
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