It may work, but it is what they meant by it? Dance instructions have changed so much even within our lifetime that I wonder how we can dare to guess what earlier instructions meant E.G. Early editions of the Community Dance Manual say 'right hands across', and it might seem reasonable to think it means 'give right hands and change places', but it means R hand star. Plus the 'half way' or 'there and back' in ladies chains etc. Mo Waddington http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html ----- Original Message ----- From: djeh_b(a)yahoo.com [trad-dance-callers] To: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2017 10:13 PM Subject: Re: [trad-dance-callers] chassee across I also teach Irish, and the chassee is very different from house around. That said, Jacob's advice worked great. Thanks!

We danced all 6 figures of Le Grand Military Set from Elias Howe's 1858 ballroom dance manual. I call a lot of nineteenth-century dances, so it's usually pretty easy for me to interpret the manuals. This particular figure (#3) read as follows: "Ladies all balance to the right hand gentleman, and turn -- pass on and balance to the next and turn -- next -- balance and turn partners -- all chassee across and turn corners -- back and turn partners -- gentlemen all balance to the left hand lady and turn -- pass on to next -- next -- balance and turn partners -- all promenade." Another fun feature of this quadrille is that it features a grand square. Thanks again for your help! Deborah Hyland St. Louis

Deborah Hyland asked about the interpretation of "all chassee across" in this 19th-century dance description: Jonathan Sivier suggested that it meant for everyone to chassee past their partner (not for all four couples to chassee across the set at the same time): I'm no expert on historic dance reconstruction, just occasionally an interested dabbler. That said, I agree with Jonathan. In fact, notes about "La Russe" on these pages http://www.contrafusion.co.uk/Dances/EFDS4806-LaRusse.html http://colinhume.com/deconnect.htm#LaRusse refer to an early description in H.D. Willock's _Ballroom Guide — A Manual of Dancing_, in which the opening figures are given as: 1. All eight chasse across, set at the corners, and turn 2. The same back to places, set and turn You can find a scanned pdf of Willock's book (revised edition, [1860's?]) linked from here: http://www.libraryofdance.org/manuals/ A side note: When I first read Jonathan's message, I was a little surprised at the reference to "La Russe", since I learned that dance in a version where the ladies stay put while the gents go behind their partners to meet their right hand ladies. It didn't take much searching to confirm that there are common versions with gents and ladies moving equally. I also found a version in _Northern Junket_, Vol 7, No. 2 (November, 1960) http://digital.unh.edu/fedora/objects/northernjunket:0074/datastreams/APPLI… page 33, where the men stay put while the women travel. Ah, the folk process! --Jim

You are right that "chassee" (or "chassa" or "chassé" or "sashay") simply refers to the footwork of this sideways sliding step. The name comes from the French word for chase, one foot chasing the other, as in a gallop. Phil Jamison On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 10:19 PM, djeh_b(a)yahoo.com [trad-dance-callers] < trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com&gt; wrote: -- Phil Jamison Professor of Mathematics/Appalachian Music/Appalachian Studies Warren Wilson College CPO 6211, PO Box 9000 Asheville, NC 28815 Office phone: (828) 771-3722 Cell phone: (828) 450-0780 Email: pjamison(a)warren-wilson.edu Website: www.philjamison.com

On Feb 27, 2017, at 7:19 PM, djeh_b(a)yahoo.com wrote: Could be, but I'm not convinced. Given that Howe doesn't say anything about partners taking hands or otherwise touching each other, the phrase "gentlemen passing to the outside of the ladies" would suggest to me that if he indeed means for head couples to switch places with the other head couple, then they'd do it by having each head lady pass between the members of the opposite head couple--that is, by dancing the action described in modern terminology as "head couples pass through", but with dancers facing towards their partners instead of in their direction of travel. While it is actually possible for all four couples to cross the set in this fashion at the same time without collisions, I doubt that such an action would have been common in the 19th century. I went to the American Ballroom Companion search page https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/musdiquery.html and did full text searches for such phrases as chasse across all chasse all chasse across Below are some passages I found that I think support the idea that "chasse across" means for dancers to exchange places with partners rather than with opposite couples. I freely admit that I found many other passages where "chasse across" was used without explanation or with an explanation that I didn't find entirely clear. Possibly I've allowed my favored hypothesis to bias my selection of passages to quote, or to bias my interpretation of the passages I've quoted. Of course anyone can repeat my searches and/or similar ones (e.g., for "chassa across", "chasse croise", etc.), examine the results, and come to their own conclusion. And again, I don't claim any credentials as a dance historian. [Deborah, if you consult some more serious researcher(s) of historical dance, such as any of those named in Michael Barraclough's recent message, I'd be interested in knowing what they say.] Allen Dodworth (Harper & brothers, New York, 1900), page 93 [description of fifth quadrille figure, seventh movement]: ... All Chassé Across. All standing side to side with partners, the lady a little in advance, all slide sideways three times, lady to left in front, gentleman to right, thus passing or, crossing each other, then all balance once forward and once backward; repeat the three slides going back to places, lady again in front. All then turn to partners and make the concluding salutations. ... 8 bars. C. Brooks (third edition, J. H. Johnson, Philadelphia, 1866), p. 49: CHASSE ACROSS.--Gents move to right, ladies to left, 4 bars; ladies to right, Dechasse, gents to left, 4 bars; Turn corners, swing corners or allemande left. All the gents turn the ladies on their left with the right hand, partners with left, 8 bars. Note that if dancers were to face partners and chasse across the set to opposite couples' places (rather than facing into the set and moving to partners' places), the gents would have to move to the left and the ladies to the right. New York,1875), pp. 56-57: * Chassé Croisé.--To move across, or past partners, or other designated persons. * Déchassé.--To return. * Chassé Croisé et Déchassé (Chassé across and back--usually abbreviated by prompters to chassé across.)--To cross and recross partners, or other designated persons, 4 steps, 2 meas. each way. (See No. 2 Quad., p. 25.) * All Chassé.--An abbreviation for All Chassé Croisé, Balancé et Dechassé, and performed by the entire set at the same time. It is executed as follows: Chassé across partners, 2 measures; balancé sur place (turning sufficiently to face partners), 2 measures; déchassé, 2 measures; balancé sur place or rest, 2 measures; in all, 8 measures--16 steps. In crossing and recrossing partners in All Chassé, the ladies always pass in front: the centre of the set is front.* N. B.--The term "All Chassé," does not always imply the entire figure above described, as may be seen in the last figure of the 2d No. Prince Impérial, p. 39. But the full figure is implied unless a break or change is made and some other figure substituted. This is further exemplified in No. 2 of the Caledonians: "All balance to corners" and exchange partners. If the exchange of partners were not understood in this Quadrille, "all balance to corners" would imply to balance to corners, to turn the person to whom you balance and return to partners. See also "Forward Two" in Gavotte, p. 30. This license is freely indulged in by prompters in New England to produce a "variety of changes." They seldom "call" the figures of the quadrille (1st set) in their original form. A footnote on p. 25 of the same book reads: Chassé Croisé et Dichassé (usually abbreviated by prompters to Chassé across)--to cross and recross--to move across and back, i. e., the partners face each other; each then takes four steps forward and four backward, the partners passing and repassing each other, the ladies always passing in front--nearest the centre. Note how De Garmo says that partners face each other and also that they pass each other (not that they pass the opposite couple). (R. & E. Williamson, London, 1822), pp. 13-14: Change Places, Is when the Lady and Gentleman, partners to each other, move from their proper places, and take each other's situation; the Lady taking the situation of the Gentleman, and the Gentleman that of the Lady; or, when they take the place of any other person in the Quadrille. Though this Figure is called "Chassé across and back again" in French, yet in English it should be called "Change Places." G[ourdoux-Daux], translated by V. G. (J. F. Hurtel, Philadelphia 1817), pp. 65-67: TRAIT FOR PERFORMING CHASSÉ ACROSS. To perform this trait, the gentlemen of the opposite couples, passing behind their partners and going to the right, will do ... In order to return to their first stands they will repass behind their partners, doing ... In the performance of the figure of this trait, the ladies must go towards their left when the gentlemen are going to their right hand; and, consequently, they cannot begin with the same foot. ... To perform the chassé across, the ladies will, going to the left and passing before their partners, do ... In order to return turn to their right, the ladies will ... The ladies and gentlemen will perform the chasse across together, the first beginning to move to the left and the last to the right. This trait is composed of eight bars. It is called chassé eight or chasse all, when it is done by all the dancers of the cottilion at once. My ellipses replace long descriptions of footwork (far more complex than a simple sliding side-step) in the original text. of Dancing, by E. B. Reilley (J. Nichlas, Philadelphia, 1870), p. 211: * Chasse. Execute the pas glissade crosswise. ... * Chasse de Cote, or Chasse Crosie, or Chasse de Chesse. Lady and gentleman cross each other sideways. 4 bars. ... * Chasse huit. All eight chasse across each partner. --Jim On Feb 27, 2017, at 7:19 PM, djeh_b(a)yahoo.com [trad-dance-callers] &lt;trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com&gt; wrote: