Capering & Kickery

A Regency "Sir Roger de Coverley"

In honor of the season...

In his Complete System of English Country Dancing, published circa 1815, Regency-era dancing master Thomas Wilson proclaimed of the dance "Sir Roger De Coverley" that it was

composed expressly for a finishing Country Dance, about 100 years ago, and derived its name from Addison's Sir Roger De Coverley; so frequently mentioned by him in his popular Essays in the Spectator, and is the only whole Dance given in this System. The Figures of which it is composed being permanent and unalterable, and thereby differing in its construction from all other Country Dances.

and explained its use as the final dance of the evening (or early morning, given the length of balls of the era):

At all Balls properly regulated, this Dance should be the finishing one, as it is calculated from the sociality of its construction, to promote the good humour of the company, and causing them to separate in evincing a pleasing satisfaction with each other.

Light Dragoon

• Era: 1850s-1860s America

"Light Dragoon" is an easy mid-19th century American country (contra) dance, one of a lengthy list of contra/country dances given in two manuals attributed to Elias Howe.  In one of the two, it is cryptically labeled "Pinkerton;" possibly this is the name of the choreographer of the dance.  It is performed in a longways set of any length, though four to six couples is easiest.  All couples are "proper," with the men standing to the left of their partners when all are facing the top of the room.

The Regency-Era Pas de Basque

In his 1818 dance manual, The Quadrille and Cotillion Panorama, Thomas Wilson provides a list of the ten essential steps for quadrilles (image at left from the second edition, 1822).  The last of these is the "PAS DE BASQUÉ."  Almack's orchestra leader James Paine (or his ghostwriter), in Paine of Almack's Quadrilles, Set I (n.d., probably late 1810s), agrees that:

"Every Lady and Gentleman desirous of Dancing Quadrilles should be Acquainted with the following Steps, which are but few in Quantity and Extremely facile in their performance."

Last on the list given is "Pas des Basques et Emboité en àrriere." 

"A very old established Figure" -- Reconstructing "Lead outsides"

In the comment thread on an earlier Kickery post, How Do You Cast Off?, Ukrainian reader Oleksiy asked whether I reconstructed the country dance figure, "lead outsides."  I haven't used this figure in my own teaching because I've been hesitant to establish a definitive reconstruction in the absence of definitive source material.  But I've since revisited the figure and more thoroughly reviewed my sources and am now ready to offer a reconstruction which I consider to be fairly solid.

Holly Berry

• Era: late 1850s onward

“Mrs. Henderson has introduced this dance in compliance with the request of pupils and friends, who were at a loss for a cheerful country dance in which all might join without previous instruction in the fashionable dances.”

Holly Berry is a short set dance apparently composed by London dance teacher Mrs. Nicholas Henderson in the 1850s.  Its first known appearance is in the second edition of her Etiquette for Dancing, published in the 1850s.  The dance was also included in Elias Howe's American dancing master and ball-room prompter, published in Boston in 1862, which appears on the Library of Congress website here.  Howe's manual, unusually, includes a specific credit to Mrs. Henderson.

The dance is reminiscent of the galopade country dances of the 1830s and was perhaps seen as too old-fashioned in style by the mid-19th century.  It does not appear to have been commonly reprinted and probably was not wildly popular.  But it makes an interesting change of pace in a Victorian or American Civil War-era reenactment ballroom.

Pop Goes the Weasel

• Era: 1850s through early 1900s, England and America

No, it isn't just a children's rhyme!  The tune is older, but in the mid-nineteenth century a rather silly dance began appearing both on sheet music and in dance manuals.  It seems to have been hugely popular, which reminds me that (1) dancing was a pastime for young adults and (2) most nineteenth-century punch recipes involved significant amounts of alcohol.

Rustic Reel

• Era: mid-19th century America

The Rustic Reel is a simple contra dance found in mid-19th century American manuals, primarily during the Civil War era of the1860s, though it appears as early as 1841 and as late as the 1880s.  Some sources note that it is particularly well suited to being the last dance in an evening:

...this dance is continued until the master of the ceremonies thinks it has been gone equally through, and generally finishes the evening's festivity, and ought not to be used at any other time.
        --- The ball-room instructer [sic], 1841.

Note that the lines of three make it awkward to put on a dance card, since each dancer needs two partners.

Any lively twenty-four bar piece of music can be used; one source specifies 6/8 time, while another suggests a Scotch reel tune.  The dance is formed by lines of three (a gentleman between two ladies) facing three down the room or in a circle, as in the diagram below.  All dancers commence at the same time.

How Do You Cast Off?

Trick question, right?  Everyone who does any form of country dancing knows how to cast off.  But if it were that simple, I wouldn't be writing about it.  Not only did country dances as a whole evolve over time, individual figures also underwent some changes.

Country Dances, Two by Two

In the comments to a previous post of mine on the realities of Austen-era country dancing, alison[sic] asked about a scene in Pride and Prejudice:

...when describing the ball to Mr Bennet, Mrs Bennet refers to the dances by what I assumed were the time signatures: "Then the two third he danced with Miss King, and the two fourth with Maria Lucas, and the two fifths with Jane again, and the two sixth with Lizzy, and the Boulanger---"  Or does this indicate some sort of dance configuration?

The short answer is that this is the way dances were organized at that time: with each partner, you would perform two dances in series before taking a rest and changing partners.  Thomas Wilson, a noted dancing master (and prolific author) in London during the first quarter of the 19th century, wrote that:

"When the Ball commences, the company should not leave their places, or rest, till after the second Dance.  Should the sets be short, they may Dance three Dances before they rest." 
-- A Companion to the Ball Room, 1816

Real Regency Dancers Don't Turn Single: Ten Tips for Judging Authenticity

As a specialist in early 19th century dance, I regularly get asked what I think of the dancing in the various films of Jane Austen's novels and how to tell if the dancing in the films or being taught by someone or other is authentic to the Regency era (1810-1820).  Sadly, the answer is usually "no."  Here's a little checklist you can use to judge for yourself, either when watching a film or listening to someone teach "just like it was in the Regency" or "the same way Jane Austen danced":

How Many Times Do We Play That Tune?

One of those questions I get asked all the time by musicians and others is "how many times through the tune for this dance?"  The reference is to progressive longways country dances, which were the dominant social dance form in Europe and America from the mid-17th century through the early 19th century and are still enjoying widespread popularity in various living tradition and revival forms.

Modern English country dance and contra practice is for all couples to start the dance simultaneously, and the modern answer to the repeats question would be as many times as needed for everyone to enjoy the dance and fewer times than it would take for people to get bored.  Modern Scottish (RSCDS) practice differs in that their dances are generally performed in short sets and have a fixed number of repeats.  But if you truly wish to perform country dances in the historical style, it's a bit more complex!