Newport Vintage Dance Week (Rhode Island, July 27-August 2, 2009)

I will be teaching at Newport Vintage Dance Week, sponsored by The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers, later this summer.  There are still openings to sign up for the week, especially for couples and single men; I believe single women are currently being wait-listed.

Newport is a lovely event with formal balls in three eras: 1890s, held at the Astors' Beechwood mansion; 1860s, held at the Rotunda Ballroom (with a carousel to ride at the breaks); and 1910s, held at Glen Manor House with a dinner beforehand.  There are also three evenings of informal dancing, a silent movie showing, and a "swap and sell" for vintage clothing and other items of interest.  Typically, there is also a formal afternoon tea one day, and there is time off to tour in Newport, play croquet, or simply relax.  During the daytimes, there will be workshops in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century dance.  The dance spaces and accommodations in this year's venue (Roger Williams University) are air-conditioned.

I will be teaching the Intermediate/Advanced Nineteenth-Century Dance class.  While I haven't finalized exactly what I'm teaching, so this is subject to change, it will likely be some combination of:

- rackets and racket waltzes (1880s-1890s)
- mid- and late nineteenth-century schottische variations (probably including the gliding five-step scottische)
- two-step (c1900)

The plan for racket and schottische variations grows from one of my current dance/reconstruction interests, rhythm variations and syncopations in nineteenth-century dance; posts here on the various rackets will probably follow along in July or August.  The two-step will serve as an easy, relaxing windup to the week after I have over-filled peoples' brains and tired their legs out with jumping around for the first few days of the class.

The other members of the teaching staff this year are:
Joan Walton (Intermediate/Advanced Twentieth Century and Twentieth Century Specialty)
Marc Casslar (Basic Twentieth Century and Nineteenth Century Specialty)
Barbara Pugliese (Basic Nineteenth Century and the Prince Imperial Quadrille)

Full details about the week, including a tentative schedule, are on the CVD website.

Comments

[Charles Mellor]

I've been twice, and it's great fun. Too much stuff to do it all, you actually have to pick and choose.

[dance]

cool super star:)