I have always been interested in learning historic dance, and recently we found a wonderful opportunity to do so. After an article in the newspaper about a Viennese style ball, we looked for a person who could teach us English Country Dance (i.e. the sort of dancing in Jane Austen movies), and amazingly found one who was so happy to teach again that she only charged us for gas money. So for the past four weeks, we and many other families have met after church on Sunday to learn how to dance like Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet. While the idea of dancing did not at first appeal to the men and boys we invited, they quickly came to enjoy it as much as the women.
English Country Dance is different from many forms of dance, because it is a social action rather than a performance. You not only interact with your partner, but also with every other partner in the dance as well, because of something called progression. The dances are usually performed in lines, a row of men facing a row of women, and almost everyone does the same thing together in a very symmetrical manner. (The dance figures in many ways resemble the knot gardens that were common in the time period.) I say almost everyone, because the way it works is that every other couple (i.e., couples 1, 3, 5, 7, in the line, etc.) does one figure of the dance, while the other couples (couples 2, 4, 6, 8, in the line, etc.) dance a different figure. Because of the way the dance works, the couples move up and down the line, performing the same figure each time, making it so that every couple eventually dances with every other couple in the dance. While this sounds complicated, it is actually a very simple idea, and the dances are easy to carry out. Because the dances simply repeat the main figure over and over in this manner, and because every step is some form of walking or turning in some direction, this leaves plenty of time for the long conversations that can be found in Jane Austen's novels.
Of course, the hardest part of any new skill is learning the terms and vocabulary. After watching Jane Austen movies and drooling over the lovely dancing therein, I first searched for a website that might offer instructions. I found one, but though there were explanations of the terms, they were not clear enough for me to imagine (you can see the instructions here, with the music, if you are interested). But after only a couple classes, I was able to revisit this site and understand all the steps.
If it is possible, English Country Dance is a wonderful thing to learn, for not only is it enjoyable and a form of dance that anyone can easily learn (the students range from 7 to 50 years), you also learn the deportment and manners that go along with it, which is a valuable thing for everyone.
