A Triumphant Dance

Alright, today I'll be looking at Thomas Wilson's dance The Triumph from 1816. This dance features a really interesting called... the Triumph (what a surprise!) and commemorates the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo. Once again, there are two Wilson publications from 1816 (Treasures of Terpsichore and Companion to the Ballroom), but the figures are the same in both of them this time, unlike yesterday's Opera Reel. I'll provide a breakdown for the "Original Figure" today.

The Triumph (1816)

A: 1st lady leads down with the 2nd man; at the same time 1st man crosses over and passes down 2 couples on the ladies' side (4 bars). The 1st and 2nd men lead 1st woman up to the top and back to place in triumph (4 bars).

• The man who crosses over behind the ladies' line (in this case 1st man), "steers" the little line for 3 back into their places when they reach the top. See the video at the end of the post.

Here's another picture of the correct arm hold for the triumph figure:

B: 1st man leads down with the 2nd lady; at the same time 2nd man crosses over and passes down on the ladies' side (4 bars). The 1st and 2nd men lead 2nd woman back to her place in triumph (4 bars).

• This 2nd repetition of the triumph is really important, because the men have to remember that, even though they just led down the 1st lady, their part isn't over yet! Their job continues as they do the same figure for 2nd lady. Do not forget to keep going! The first time we tried this briefly with the York Regency Dancers, we found it was easy to forget this 2nd lead down.
• Once again, the man who crosses over behind the ladies' line (in this case 2nd man), "steers" the little line for 3 back into their places when they reach the top. See the video at the end of the post.

C: 1st couple leads down and back to 2nd place (4 bars); rights and lefts with the top couple (4 bars).

• So, this is another short lead down. Don't go for a long walk down the middle!
• For rights and lefts, Wilson may mean the crossing corners version (below), rather than a chain. For either version, you only have 1 bar/each crossing corner or change of rights and lefts. So, be on your toes and ready to cross!
• If one is using the crossing corners version, I would recommend always crossing by right shoulders, so that the direction is constant and you don't need to spend time figuring out which shoulder to cross by.

OR

Arms for the Triumph:

• 1st repetition - 2nd man (on the lady's left) takes her left hand in his left hand; 1st man (on the lady's right) takes her right hand in his right hand. The men take inside hands behind the lady's back.

• 2nd repetition - 1st man will be on the left, 2nd man will be on the right.

I've created a little video that shows this figure more clearly. Here's the figure in motion:

So that is The Triumph... It may take some time to get used to this different, yet lovely, figure, so have fun practising at home! 

That's all for now - until next time... Happy dancing!