Deborah Hyland wrote:
<< I've been looking at some nineteenth-century quadrilles and am curious about one of the more common moves I see: "all chassee across."
In your opinion or experience, how exactly would this work? If four couples are moving at once, "across" is nearly impossible. Do you think they're doing a sashay around, like a promenade? Or alternating heads & sides? Something else? >>
Please add me to the list of folks who would like to see the context of this term. I’m not an expert on 19th century quadrilles, but I’ve looked at a few, and I don’t recall ever seeing “all chassee across.” I’ve seen dance recipes indicating
that the heads (and later the sides) are to slide across the set past each other, but never all four couples at once. (This is not to say you’re mistaken, just that some context might make things clearer.)
Tony Parkes
Billerica, Mass.
New book! Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century
(to be published Spring 2017)