It’s one of those weeks when I must beg your indulgence. A plethora of items has come to my attention, and I simply have to share them with you. So I give you four things on a Friday:
Real Nineteenth Century Dancing. We often see in movies perfectly executed dance scenes depicting balls in the nineteenth century. I have often wondered whether every young lady could possibly keep all those steps in her head, and what would happen if she missed a step or, heaven forbid, improvised! I saw this clip on YouTube recently, and it strikes me as far more realistic for how early nineteenth century young ladies and gentlemen would have danced. Notice the fellow with the flair at twirling, the older lady chivvying the others along. That’s the kind of scene I like to write about.
Jane Austen as Brain Food. Recent research at Stanford University has shown that reading Jane Austen’s materials actually stimulates your brain. Now you know why you’re all so clever, don’t you?
Pictures from the Beau Monde. Leah Nash, a talented photographer who has had her pieces published by the New York Times, attended the Romance Writers of America conference this summer and took a number of pictures at the Beau Monde Soiree. Here are a few, used with her permission. You may recognize some of the, er, gentlemen. The darling lady in turquoise is author Delilah Marvelle. See Leah's website at LeahNash.com for more.
The Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema. Yes, that’s right! Join us next Tuesday, October 23, for a discussion of Pride and Prejudice staring Keira Knightly, with our own Cara King. Whatever you think of this new-fangled cinema or this interpretation of the beloved classic, it’s sure to be interesting!
Have we found our partners? The musicians (did you know Regina hired an orchestra that plays regularly at Carlton House? Shocking expense, but oh so worth it!) are ready to open with a delightful cotillion waltz that offers multiple opportunities for some genteel flirtation...and aren't all the dancers most elegantly attired?:
Now, perhaps a sprightly country dance?
Or another cotillion?
And do check out this last set of dances--held in the Music Room at the Prince Regent's Pavilion in Brighton!
But after a few hours of dancing, it's time to go in for supper. A dance supper is meant to refresh and sustain after all that dancing and impress the guests...oh yes, and be easily served and eaten in a crowded, busy setting. Rather analogous to what we call heavy hors d'oeuvres at an evening event--so, think small cakes, both savory and sweet, thinly sliced meats, individual servings of ices or syllabub like our young lady at right is enjoying, and beverages, from champagne and punches to lemonade. I'm not a big sweets eater, so we have an assortment of cold sliced ham and beef, lobster patties, savory cheese biscuits, jellied sliced chicken, fruit trays, and both whipped syllabub and cherry and pineapple ices. And of course, champagne! This is a birthday ball, after all!
There! Are we ready for more dancing?
*************
Having too much fun? For your further viewing pleasure, I highly recommend a visit here: http://www.youtube.com/user/fainmusicuk?feature=results_main where there are videos of period dances as well as several demo clips of several figures used in Regency period dancing--an excellent primer! And for general Regency-era listening try this channel on Pandora--the Regency Era Reading Channel!
Forgive the fragmented post, my dears, but I had so many things I wanted to share, and none were really large enough to warrant a post on their own. So, here are five things to amuse you on a Friday:
One Those of you who like sparklies may want to check out this post by historical author Tara Cohen about a nineteenth century set of jewels held by the Swedish Royal Treasury. Drool worthy!
Two Some of you may remember our posts on nineteenth century country dances, such as this one by guest blogger Gail Eastwood. Now, thanks to RegencyDances.org, there’s a wonderful resource online for learning the steps. They’ve even provided animation so you can envision what the couples would be doing. Interesting and entertaining!
Three During our birthday house party, Lo suggested that we host more current authors of YA set in the nineteenth century. We’re delighted that next week Jennifer Bradbury will be joining us to talk about her book, Wrapped. Hint: It’s a perfect lead in to Halloween!
Four October 30 is the 200th anniversity of the publication of Sense and Sensibility and officially Talk Like Jane Austen Day. To celebrate, Marissa and I will be guest blogging at SOS Aloha. Stop by and say hi, or should I say, offer us your esteemed company, if you have a chance.
Five A here-and-therian was a fellow who couldn’t commit to anything (a bit like this post), who traveled about with no set home or preferred to chase women rather than catch them; as in “I truly thought Englebert would propose this time, but he’s such a here-and-therian that I suppose I’ll never bring him up to snuff!”
Have you brought in your harvest yet? It is officially autumn, and September 22 marked the traditional time of Harvest Home in nineteenth century England. Harvest Home celebrated the end of hay-making, when all the hay and other crops had been gathered for the winter. If your dear Papa owned lands, he probably offered his tenants and farm laborers a gift of money in thanks for a good season. If your dear Papa was one of those laborers, you’d have probably spent Harvest Home celebrating with him at a big dinner with all the workers, followed by jokes, stories, and songs. Here’s how a gentleman from Dorset remembered it in 1832:
“The conversation commonly turned on the incidents of the summer: how the hay-makers overtook the mowers, or how the rain kept the labor back; how they all crept in a heap under the wagon in a thunderstorm; how nearly some of them were crushed under the load that was upset; who was the best mower or reaper in the village; which field yielded the best crop; and which stack was most likely to heat.”
Either way, the harvest time was a jolly good time for a ball.
We’ve talked about public and private balls before. Public balls were generally held in assembly rooms and so might be called assemblies. Jane Austen talks about going to assemblies in her letters to her sister Cassandra. Take this one from Lyme Regis in September 1804:
“The ball last night was pleasant, but not full for Thursday. . . Nobody asked me to dance the two first dances – the next two I danced with Mr. Crawford – and had I chosen to stay longer might have danced with Mr. Granville, Mrs. Granville’s son – whom my dear friend Miss Armstrong introduced me to – or a new, odd-looking man, who had been eyeing me for some time, and at last without introduction asked me if I meant to dance again.”
You see, the primary “harvest” of an assembly was acquaintance. You went to meet old friends and make new ones. At the assembly, you danced, you promenaded about the room on a gentleman’s or a girl friend’s arm and whispered confidences, you partook of light refreshment and strong gossip. If you were on the lookout for a husband, you flirted and visited and preened to catch the right fellow’s eye.
In the mood for dancing yourself? A group recently introduced themselves to us, and so we pass along the introduction. Mostly Waltz RI is just beginning its season this Sunday with beautiful live music. In addition to the waltzes, the program includes a basic waltz lesson and waltz mixers along with occasional other couple dances. If, like me, you don't live anywhere near Rhode Island, look for other contra dance or English Country Dance groups in your area.
Who knows what you might harvest?
And speaking of harvesting, return next week to reap of bounty. I hear someone will be giving away books.
If you were sitting where I'm sitting, you might wonder. Where am I? At the annual meeting of the Beau Monde Chapter of the Romance Writers of America.
There's a four-piece ensemble playing late 18th century dance tunes as gowned women dance country dances--so called because they're danced in two facing ("contra") lines--laughing and chattering as they tread through the steps.
There are sets of reproduction playing cards printed from original 1750 plates, along with rulebooks for playing 18th and 19th century card games and gold foil covered chocolate coins to use for betting. Yes, this is how Regency authors have fun in their off-duty hours!
Don't you love these costumes? Marissa and Regina, alas, did not attend suitably attired, but we hope you'll like these:
I want that hat!
And these shoes!
However, I'm glad I didn't have to manage the graceful but very long train on this beautiful dress!
And aren't these two lovely dresses just stunning? The feathers especially made it for me. :)
"Young females in particular, if deprived of Dancing, are totally at a loss to find any healthful amusement. Boys certainly have their games of cricket, trap-ball, etc., but what can we find so proper for girls? Novel reading, I am sorry to say, is too often an apology for exercise." --Thomas Wilson, preface to An Analysis of Country-dancing (1808)
We’ve come far in 200 years, haven’t we? Today we have all sorts of amusements and exercise available for both sexes, but how many of you still chuckled in recognition when you got to Wilson’s last sentence in the quote above? I know I did! While I'm not an exercise fan, when it comes to English Country dancing, I am among the first to get out on the dance floor. Why? What about “ECD” has kept interest in it alive for more than three and a half centuries?
Oh, come on, this one’s easy –it's FUN!!
I first discovered the pleasure of ECD as part of learning Renaissance dances when I joined the Society for Creative Anachronism many years ago. By the way, the SCA is also how I first got to know Marissa, before either of us were writing books or published!! That group recreates the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and although John Playford’s 1st ECD book (1651) is a bit beyond the time period, people were doing dances like those he collected and recorded well before his book came out. That book, The English Dancing Master, was still being published, with different dances in it, in the 18th century. I recognized the longways dances as similar to what was going on in Jane Austen’s books, and began to do research on Regency period dancing –especially when I began writing books of my own set in that lovely time period.
Well, of course, once you start to get into something…. I discovered the Friends of the English Regency (FOER), and would have loved to get involved, but at the time they were almost entirely on the West Coast, and I’m in New England. But I learned enough on my own to begin to teach some 19th century dances (and earlier ones that were similar) at Regency Writers’ conferences. When we had a conference in California, I invited one of the FOER’s dance masters to co-present a bigger historical dance workshop with me for the Romance Writers of America National Conference, which was a huge hit.
I began dancing with regular English Country Dance groups in my home area when dancing in the SCA wasn’t frequent enough for me anymore. I also discovered the Elegant Arts Society (EAS), who are based primarily in the Northeast. They do events, including an annual Regency Ball in New Haven, CT, and also teach all sorts of vintage dance classes in New York City –from Regency and Victorian right up to early 20th century. I learned quadrilles and Scottish Reels and Waltz figures –and ECD of course. (That's Gail in purple, btw! Photo by Selena Millard/courtesy Independent Newspapers)
I’m telling you all this just so you can see that if you’d like to see it or try it out yourself, there are lots of ways to find other people who are doing 19th century dancing. The historical recreation groups that I just mentioned are places you could start, but there are many more, such as the Victorian Society of America, and of course, you’ve already read the wonderful posts by Stephanie Johanesen of the Oregon Regency Society. Someone has already mentioned the CDSS (Country Dance and Song Society), which is a great source for info or music, or especially if you’d rather begin with a book….and they also sponsor Dance summer camps! If you’re not in the USA, some of these groups are either international, like the SCA, or have equivalent branches in other countries.
English Country Dance is a great hobby. The music is elegant, the dancing itself is easy, great fun and very social, and you can find people doing it almost everywhere. If you simply Google “English Country Dancing” you’ll find all sorts of good sites –about 40,000 hits. Just in case that’s a bit overwhelming, try “+ your state” to narrow your search, or here are some links to get you started:
Once you start looking, you’ll find lots more, not to mention more you-tube videos, costume pages, etc. etc. Don’t spend so much time online that you forget to get out there and try dancing!
Thank you for visiting, Gail! That wraps up our series on nineteenth century dance...we hope you enjoyed it!
Okay...first, old business. The winner of the drawing for a signed copy of Sarah MacLean's The Season is:
Starry*Night!
Starry*Night, you'll be hearing from Sarah shortly to arrange mailing your prize. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented! Now, for today's topic...
The nineteenth century was a century of progress. I mean, think about it: at the beginning of the century, if you wanted to go somewhere you rode a horse or a horse-drawn vehicle; by the end there were railroads and automobiles. At the beginning of the century, your house was lit by candles; by the end, gas and electric lighting were available almost everywhere. And at the beginning of the century, you pretty much had to dance with whoever asked you at a ball; by the end, there were dance cards. See what I mean? Progress!
Okay, I’ll settle down now.
So what were dance cards?
Like technology, they evolved over the century. From what I’ve been able to find, they were probably first in use in Austria and may have been spread as everyone returned home to their various corners of Europe from the Congress of Vienna, that huge year-long party—ahem, series of negotiations—that ended the Napoleonic Wars (for you hard-core history geeks out there, I highly recommend David King’s Vienna 1814 for a highly readable account of the Congress). At this time, “group” dances like country dancing and the highly formal minuets where precedence and etiquette decreed whom you could dance with fell out of favor, to gradually be replaced by “pairs” dances like the waltz and later on the polka and others. And because there were now more dances per evening (as opposed to the fewer but longer country dances of the past) it became harder to remember which young men you’d promised to dance with. So young women used the adorable little notebooks that opened like fans that they already carried about in their reticules to note down shopping lists and so on, and used them to record dance partners for the evening. I've posted a photo above of a few from my collection--you can see the varying materials (bone, ivory, mother of pearl, tortoise shell, silver) and styles, as well as ways of carrying them (see the little ring on the fan-shaped one and the clip on the Indian chief one so that it could be fastened on a belt?) A few are even inscribed "Bal", or ball in French (see close-up at left). I've seen varying opinions as to when dance cards were in general use...most likely, their use grew through the 1830s until they were a commonplace by the time Victoria was queen.
Towards the middle of the century, dance cards changed: they were pre-printed booklets of paper or cardboard listing each specific dance that the musicians would play, in order. Tiny pencils were attached by a ribbon or cord to the program, and the whole could dangle from a wrist or belt, and later be preserved as a memento of the evening. They became progressively more decorative and elaborate as the century moved on, peaking with the astonishing “ballspenden” popular in Austria before World War I (check this site out for a look at how crazy they could get!)
[Stephanie Johanesen, Founder and President of the Oregon Regency Society, continues her introduction to English Country Dance (ECD). Don't forget to check out her group at www.orregency.org. We're all feet, er, ears, Stephanie!]
A piece of ECD music can be strung together into infinity. Most pieces you buy on CD are repeated seven times. At a ball, the musicians can decide when they will end it based on how long the sets are.
Here is a link to the Duke of Kent’s Waltz (this is one of my favorite dances). It’s an mp3. It is repeated four times. Listen to it. It is simply the same piece played over and over. What gives it variety is the way each set is played by the musicians. Just listening to this music, I can tell what I am supposed to do in the dance. It has a waltz tempo. One-two-three, Two-two-three… I made a little diagram for each group of movements that go with the dance.
Ones and Twos: Right Hand Star (4 beats) (First gentleman takes second lady’s hand; first lady takes second gentleman’s hand beneath) Turn Left Hand Star (4 beats) (You should be back in your places).
Ones (first couple) Chassée between the twos and return (4) (Chassée = slide step waltz while holding hands)
Ones Cast Down (4) (Turn away over your right shoulder, outside the set and fall into the place of the twos) Twos lead up (2) (The twos should wait two beats after the ones cast, and then take hands and dance up into the place of the ones.)
(Note: This is where you have progressed. Note that the ones and twos have switched places.)
(Here comes the best part – balancing is a waltzy step where you take right hands and dance towards each other and back.)
Balance forward on right hand Back (2) Balance forward Spin under the gentleman’s hand, And back (2) (You are now improper) [Editor’s Note: How delightful!]
Repeat with left hand to remedy the improper position.
Balance forward on left hand Back (2) Balance forward Spin under the gentleman’s hand, And back (2) (You should now be proper again) [Editor’s Note: Aw, shucks!]
Gentlemen take right hand of your lady’s lower neighbor (diagonal down) and perform a right-hand turn. (Everyone should be turning except the top right lady and the bottom left gentleman.)
Left hand turn with partner.
And begin again with new set. The configuration will have changed obviously. http://www.oregonregencysociety.com/files/ecd/outs.gif
Here are some videos of the dance being performed by a variety of groups. When you watch them, note how people are ‘out’ at the ends. Here is the Duke of Kent’s Waltz being performed by Oregon Regency Society members last May:
A nice long movie of a civil war reenactment group performing the Duke of Kent’s Waltz:
Our mentors the Hampshire Regency Dancers perform a suite of dances that include Duple minors, Triple Minors, and Quadrilles. Can you find the Duke of Kent’s Waltz in there?
Now, gather at least six friends and give it a whirl yourself. Once you’ve got the hard bits down, you can learn more steps, and you will find that English Country Dancing is really not difficult at all!
[Thanks, Stephanie, for making it look easy! Come back next week, my dears, when we stand out for a moment on our dancing, and Marissa introduces some special posts by a new author of nineteenth century YA fiction.]
[Today and Friday we're pleased to present Stephanie Johanesen, Founder and President of the Oregon Regency Society, who has graciously agreed to offer us all a tutorial on English Country Dancing. You can learn more about her and her group at www.orregency.org. Take it away, Stephanie!]
When I decided I was going to create a Regency Society, part of that process was to learn about the dancing aspect of the period. I knew I couldn’t have an event without it. The problem was, I was starting from the perspective of an Austen fan, and the only basis of reference I had about the dancing were the various examples of it on the adaptations. It was all I had to go by. I didn’t know it had a name; I didn’t know anything about it. Google was my greatest ally.
I Googled “The dances of Pride and Prejudice” and found a site listing the names of the dances. I then Googled the steps for a particular dance and learned it was an “English Country Dance” (ECD for short) … and came up with a site that not only provided reference for the steps but also the music. That was the Country Dance and Song Society. I stumbled over a group list there and discovered, to my surprise, a whole network of groups all over the country. Wow. What’s even better; I found groups in Oregon, one fairly close to me.
So when I began to organize our first ball, I had a caller. And I learned then that callers came with music and steps and the whole ball of wax, even sheet music. What a boon!
I look at the dancing from our first event in August of 2007, and I marvel at how smoothly we danced. Here is a medley of the dancing at our first event. It looks like we’ve done it before. At least 70% of the people present at that Regency party had never danced ECD before. [Editor's Note: don't you just feel like you were there in the nineteenth century?]
What makes ECD so ‘user friendly’ is that it can be called like a square dance. Square dancing is often cobbled together by the caller as the music goes along — which is not the case with ECD. English country dances on the most part are matched to a particular piece of music. So if you say; “Let’s dance the Duke of Kent Waltz,” you will know not only what the music sounds like, but also the moves that go with it. You do them enough, and you don’t need callers. You know the dances by heart, as they did back in the 18th and 19th centuries.
English country dances come in various forms. There are duple minors (a set of four dancers; two couples), triple minors (a set of six; three couples), circle dances, and the quadrille, which is a bit harder, but these are definitely the dances that are most accurate to the Regency period. Quadrilles are also set dances, but they are often not matched to particular pieces of music. Many English country dances performed by our group are older than the Regency period. It would be like dancing disco at a party today… but since the mannerisms are elegant and they are similar to the period dance, we are happy to include them in our events. And they are also easy to learn.
We do mostly duple minors. It’s good to choose this format because new dancers can be paired with more experienced ones, and it’s a bit simpler than a triple or a quadrille.
In ECD there is a top to the room (usually where the music is). The way it worked back then was that the highest ranked couples took the top to begin, and the lower you were toward the bottom of the room, the lower you were in the social pecking order. In some of Jane’s books, she mentions ‘starting’ the dance. That is a great honor. If the party is in your honor, you start at the top.
Duple minors are based on sets of four. Each ‘round’ of the music has a pre-determined set of movements that will occur within that set of four dancers. The ‘First Couple’ or ‘Ones’ are the couple closest to the top, and the ‘Second Couple’ or ‘Twos’ are the couple closest to the bottom. Gentlemen stand on the left side if you are looking toward the top of the room and ladies on the right. Sometimes during dances, these positions change, and when the ladies are on the left, that is known as being ‘improper.’
Each time a cycle of the music completes, a new couple will end up on the bottom and the top of the line. The ones progress down the room, the twos progress upwards. When a twos couple reaches the top, they wait the dance out one round, and go back in as ones. When a ones couple reaches the bottom, they wait out the next round, and then join back in as twos. It seems confusing — but when you’re doing it, it makes sense.
If there are an even number of couples in a line, then each round of music, the sets will either all be dancing, or one couple will be out at each end. If there are an odd number of couples, the one ‘out’ couple will appear at one end and then alternate to the other end on the next round. The trick is 1) to know when to join back in when you’re out, and 2) to remember what steps are required of you in your new role. A tip from me is to always angle yourself a bit downwards if you’re a one, and upwards if you are a two, that way, when the new couple appears in your set, you’ll always be facing them. Also, pay attention to what twos are doing if you’re a one, because chances are you’ll become a two soon enough.
Thanks, Stephanie, for that introduction. Come back on Friday, my friends, and Stephanie will walk us through the Duke of Kent’s Waltz. Formal attired recommended, but not required.
