A dance so good that the first edition of the Dancing Master had it in twice! Firstly as Nonesuch with the tune in a minor key, and secondly as A la Mode de France, with the tune in a major key, the dance described using very different language, and some differences. In common with the inconsistency of spellings, it's written “All a Mode de France“ in the description and “Al-a-Mode de France” in the index – he probably meant “À la Mode de France”, i.e. “in the French way”.
Personally I think this adds weight to the argument that Playford didn't really understand the dances, and he was getting the descriptions from multiple friends.
Today we largely ignore A la Mode de France, and call this dance “Nonesuch”. As it turns out, A la Mode de France was published in all 18 editions of Playford, whereas Nonesuch was published in editions 1-3, then inexplicably editions 11 and 14, while a completely different dance with a different tune also entitled Nonesuch was published in editions 9, 12, 13, and 15-18.
This is basically identical to Mike Barraclough's version of Nonesuch, which I've finally checked out online – hats off to Mike for all the work he's done on this stuff over the years. The exception is that, in common with other pre-restoration Playford, I do pairs of set and turn singles first as a set and turn single left (set left and right, turn single left) and then to the right (set right and left, turn single right).
I've included what I think is a plausible alternative description for A la Mode de France. The end at least of this matches a little better with Cecil Sharp's older interpretation. Sharp titled his interpretation “NONESUCH, or A LA MODE DE FRANCE”, so he was taking license to mix the two.
The first part of this dance, after its introduction, is duple minor, starting with just the top two couples and moving on to bring the others in until everyone is dance and each couple stopping when they are home, with just the bottom two couples dancing the last time. Unusually, the other parts are not progressive in this way – usually all parts of a dance are progressive or no parts are.
The dance is a great example of the importance of doubles in stepping (1, 2, 3, together) – you really have to feel a step unit every two bars, and the choreography is clearly broken down in that way. If you just walk it flat then it often feels like too much time, but if you get into the groove of it then it feels great!
When playing for this, it's become common practice for musicians to switch to the major at the start of Part 2. Which can be nice but is definitely not compulsory.
Nonesuch:
| Part 1 (Intro and duple minor) | |
|---|---|
| A (8) | Lead up a double and back twice |
| B (8) | Set and turn single left and right |
| A (8) | 1C slip down to stand between 2C (2) 1C individually turn to face their neighbour behind them (2) Two hands to neighbour: 1s push 2s out away from set (2) Two-hand turn halfway with neighbour (2) |
| B (8) | 1s push the 2s back into the middle (2) Open out into progressed places, 1C below 2C (2) 1C two-hand turn partner (4) |
| Repeat last A and B 8 more times until everyone is home | |
| Part 2 | |
| A (8) | Side right and left |
| B (8) | Set and turn single left and right |
| A (8) | 1M slip or take a double to move to the centre line of the set, right at the top, facing down (2) 1W the same to move to the centre line facing up to 1M (2) 2M the same to move in below 1W facing down (2) 2W the same to move in to face up to 2M (2) |
| B (8) | 3M, 3W, 4M and 4W do the same in turn, until we have everyone in a column in the middle, facing their partner |
| Part 3 | |
| A (8) | Arm right and left |
| B (8) | Four slips to the left, out to the side of the set (2) Four slips right back into line (2) Four slips right out to the side (2) Four slips left back into line (2) |
| A,B (16) | 1M, 1W, 2M, 2W, 3M, 3W, 4M and 4W in turn take a double out to the side to their partner's starting place |
| A,B (16) | 1C face down, others up: 1C lead a snowball grand chain in a horseshoe until home, crossing over at the bottom but not at the top. |
A la Mode de France:
| Part 1 (Intro and duple minor) | |
|---|---|
| A (8) | Lead up a double and back twice |
| B (8) | Set and turn single left and right |
| A (8) | 1C a double forward to meet (2) 1C slip down to stand between 2C (2) 1C individually turn to face their neighbour behind them (2) Two hands to neighbour: 1s push 2s out away from set (2) |
| B (8) | Open out into progressed places, 1C below 2C, holding inside hands with neighbour and come forward to meet (2) Fall back (2) 1C two-hand turn partner (4) |
| Repeat last A and B 8 more times until everyone is home | |
| Part 2 (same as Nonesuch) | |
| Part 3 | |
| A (8) | Arm right and left |
| B (8) | Four slips left and back, four slips right and back |
| A,B (16) | 1M, 1W, 2M, 2W, 3M, 3W, 4M and 4W in turn take a double out to the side to their starting place |
| A,B (16) | 1C lead a snowball grand chain in a circle until home (crossing over at both ends), starting giving right hand to each other. |
T:Nonesuch
M:C|
L:1/4
K:C
a | "Dm"af ga | fe/2f/2 da | af ga | f2 fa | af ga | fe/2f/2 da | af ga | f2 d ||
e | "C"ec de | "Dm"fe/2f/2 de | "C"ec de | "Dm"f2 de | "C"ec de | "Bb"fe/2f/2 de | "C"ec de | "Dm"f2 d |]
X:2
T:A la Mode de France
M:4/4
L:1/4
K:D
a|"D"afga|f>eda|afga|f3a|afga|f>eda|afga|f3||
f|"A"eAde|"D"f>edf|"A"eAde|"D"f3f|"A"eAde|"D (Bm)"f>eda|"G"af"A"ga|"D"f3|]
The first introduction has a superfluous · after the first lead up a double and back. That seems a misprint and is in the wrong place – it should be after the following That againe.
The first figure seems pretty straightforward if you’re going to do it with doubles, and it does seem to be broken neatly into double-sized moves, barring the partner turn at the end.
Sharp's interpretation says for the first couple to push the second couple up on the diagonal rather than straight out to the side as the original Playford implies. That is actually rather cunning, since if you go straight out, the dance has a tendency to drift down the hall. If you do do this straight out as notated here, beware of that!
The directions are for 1C only to turn at the end, which is idiomatic, but if the 2C wish to turn too they shouldn’t feel too guilty about it.
The second figure gives a whole time through the music for everyone to come into the centre line one at a time, which is time for a double each. Does First man slip before mean that he slips sideways, or just goes forwards a double? Normally if the intention is to go somewhere in a double the instructions simply say “goe” rather than “slip”, but I find in dancing it that I prefer to just take a double forwards, and it's a fine detail anyway (far finer than the differences between Nonesuch and A la Mode de France!), so take your pick.
It says Longwayes for as many as will but in practice the figure where everyone individually goes into the middle line only works for 4 couples.
The first figure starts saying First Cu. meet, which is often, but not necessarily, a move in itself. This is a progressive figure which ends with the first couple turning and could therefore keep hold of hands, but they would normally fall back to place, so it’s not inconsistent to follow this with a meet move. Then , take both hands, and fall in betweene the 2. Cu: it doesn’t say slip, but having taken both hands it seems reasonable that the next thing you’re going to do is slip sideways (and we have precedent from Nonesuch).
The rest is each of you turne your face towards them, and put them back, you meet the two men, and We. all foure fall back. and turne your woman. We've got a lot of time here, but if you do it all to doubles it works out well: meet; slip down; turn around; push out (put them back). Then we need to meet in progressed places, with no separate move to open out so I assume that that's done as part of the meet, and we fall back again; doing a two-hand turn after a forwards and back is quite natural. I think this makes more sense than Sharp's interpretation which merges the initial slip down and turn around, which brings everything a double earlier, finishing coming forwards, then falling back, then coming forwards again. But I totally accept this is all very subjective.
At the end of this move, it’s not clear whether only 1C should turn or both couples. It’s a common pattern for 1C to turn alone at the end of a duple minor figure in other dances, and my guess is that this was the intention, but I’m not about to tell off any 2C that wants to join in.
In the second figure, instead of “slip” as in Nonesuch, it says fall all into one File. “Fall” was used with a slip in the first figure so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to use it here – but no step is specified so as long as you use the right amount of music, it doesn’t matter a lot which step you use.
Just after the arming, the men are directed to fall off to the right [...] hand. I’m going to suggest a slip again for consistency with Nonesuch, and I’m taking “right hand” to mean the right hand of the set, i.e. women’s side, which is to their left! This terminology is used occasionally and if in doubt let's be consistent with Nonesuch – they are the same dance in essence after all.
After this the dance differs from Nonesuch: the lines come out to the side they started (the first man fall into his first place) and the grand chain starts across the top of the set.
Overall, I think this dance has the following differences with Nonesuch:
- The progressive figure has some slightly different details, although the effect is pretty similar, and both are variations on a pretty consistent theme.
- When coming out of the central line, everyone comes back to their own side.
- The grand chain starts with the 1C crossing at the top rather than down the sides.