in the evening, and that every body should be
extremely merry all day long."
--Sense & Sensibility
(The dances are easy enough to pick up the night of the event,
but a little practice never hurts!)
--Pride & Prejudice
The Dances
Most familiar to viewers of the BBC's Pride and Prejudice and the motion pictures Sense and Sensibility and Emma, "longways and progressive dances for as many as will" were a popular and integral part of social life in homes of the English gentry, in the fashionable assembly rooms of the towns and cities and even at court. In a more rigid society than our own, the dance floor provided young couples with excellent opportunities to socialise and spend time together unchaperoned (more or less!).
The dances will be selected from various editions of The Dancing Master, published by John and Henry Playford in the second half of the 17th century and the late 18th Century publications of Thompson and others, including some of these same dances featured in the recent Austen adaptations. The dances might include:
The First of April, The Comical Fellow, Indian Queen, The Touchstone, Parson Upton Dorothy, Mr. Beveridge's Maggot, Childgrove, My Lord Byron's Maggot
Note: "Maggot" in the early 19th Century meant a "delight" or "fancy"--not what you think!
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