Hi Louise,
I'd be really curious to know the dance that introduced Gent's / Left-hand / Larks / Men's chains; one from fifty years ago would certainly be a strong candidate!
I did a bit of looking just now and found Mary McNab Dart's 1995 book
mentions them briefly:
Men's "chains" and same-sex "swings" are marginal innovations that are out at the edges of the tradition boundary today. Had they been introduced in 1950 they would have been too far out for acceptance. Now they have a chance, as the boundary moves in directions that encourage gender equality.
The oldest I can think of off the top of my head is
Erik's
Men in Chains, which was in his Contradictations (
1997), but I don't know how much longer before that he wrote the dance.
Jeff