Capering & Kickery

February 2014 Gig Calendar

February will be crazy travel month for me!  Early in the month I'll be squeezing my usual New York, Middletown, and Boston-area Regency and blues-DJing gigs plus a waltz workshop all into eight hectic days.  Mid-month, I will be a featured performer at the Dance Flurry Festival before heading south to North Carolina.  I don't expect to be squeezing anything else into February -- I'm just hoping the weather holds up for all this travel!

Sunday, February 2nd ~ New York City
Regency Dance Workshop (Facebook event)
Beginner-friendly lesson 3:00-5:00pm.  No costume needed.

Tuesday, February 4th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Jane Austen Era Dancing (Facebook event)
Beginner-friendly lesson 8:15-9:30pm.  No costume needed.

Thursday, February 6th ~ Somerville, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Blues Union (Facebook event)
7:30-10:30pm (lesson then dancing).  DJing blues from 9:30-10:30.

Sunday, February 9th ~ Concord, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Cross-Step Waltz Workshops for Mostly Waltz Boston (Facebook event)
2:00-5:30pm (basic and intermediate lessons then DJing for dancing)

Friday, February 14th - Sunday, February 16th ~ Saratoga Springs, NY
The Dance Flurry! (Facebook event)
Five workshops and one performance:
    Friday, 7:15-8:15pm         Cross-Step Waltz Basics
    Friday, 9:45-11:15pm       Valentine's Night Polka Lesson & Dance
    Saturday, 2:00-3:15pm     Austentatius!  (Regency/Austen-era dances)
    Saturday, 6:00-7:30pm     Dance Around the World (one peformance among many!)
    Saturday, 9:15-10:15pm   Saturday Night Fever!  (1970s disco line dancing)
    Sunday, 10:00-11:00am    Intermediate Cross-Step Waltz
        For the couple-dance workshops, I will be partnered by the fabulous Jennie Worden.  I'll also have a rotating cast of talented musicians for all but the disco session!

Saturday, February 22nd ~ Carrboro, North Carolina (Raleigh-Durham area)
Triangle Vintage Dance's Victorian Ball (Facebook event)
Lesson 1:00-3:00pm, ball 8:00-11:00pm.  I'll be co-calling with Chris & Dawn Imersheim.

Sunday, February 23rd ~ Durham, North Carolina
Triangle Vintage Dance's Tea Dance (Facebook event)
1:00-3:00pm.  I'll be teaching a dance or two.

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I am available for private lessons in Connecticut or on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

New Haven & Middletown, Connecticut: February 3-5, 10-13, 17, 25-28
New York City: February 1-2
Boston area: February 6-9

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Dance Mad, Dance Madder

In 1914, F. Leslie Clendenen, President of the St. Louis Association of Masters of Dancing, published the book Dance Mad or the Dances of the Day, a compilation of dance steps and choreographed sequences from himself and fourteen other dancing masters.  He ended the book with an announcement and a request:

    Should the dance craze continue for one year longer, the writer will issue an enlarged edition before January 1, 1915, containing the dances as danced up to that dime [sic].

    All persons having new dances are requested to send us a copy on or before December 1, 1915.

Dance teachers responded in droves, tripling the number of listed contributors to forty-five, and enabling Clendenen to more than double the size of his book.  

An enlarged second edition of Dance Mad duly appeared, with updates scattered through the existing sections and more than fifty pages of new dances for the 1914-1915 season.  The introduction to the new dances is dated August 15th, 1914.

Comparing the two editions offers an interesting snapshot of what new dances first appeared or were publicized during the "dance craze" year of 1914.  

The Rye Hesitation

Five years ago I posted a description of the late nineteenth-century Rye Waltz, a simple sequence dance set to a special version of "Coming Through the Rye" that alternates between duple and triple (waltz) meter. 

In 1914, Oklahoma City dancing master M. W. Cain submitted a new version of the dance, the Rye Hesitation, to F. Leslie Clendenen's compilation Dance Mad.  Cain's version is extremely simple, well-suited to beginning dancers.  It requires no actual waltzing; the waltz music segment is occupied by one-to-the-bar hesitation steps.

(At left, the dancers dip in the final step of the Rye Hesitation.  Click to enlarge.)

January 2014 Gig Calendar

Happy New Year!  After a wonderful holiday full of friends and family and library research, I'm back on the road again!  Nineteenth century to start out the month, then a series of blues DJing gigs, wrapping up with a 1770s ball at the end of the month!

This list is not yet complete, as I'm still working out a set of waltz classes and events, so check back in a week or so for more listings and links!

Sunday, January 5th ~ New York City
Regency Dance Workshop (Facebook event)
Beginner-friendly lesson 3:00-5:00pm.  No costume needed.

Tuesday, January 7th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
Jane Austen Era Dancing  (Facebook event)
Beginner-friendly lesson 8:15-9:30pm.  No costume needed.

Saturday, January 11th
Private event

Sunday, January 12th ~ New Haven, Connecticut
Swing & Blues Practicum for Yale Swing & Blues (Facebook event)
8:00-10:50pm  DJing swing from 8:00-9:25 and blues from 9:25-10:50

Tuesday, January 14th ~ Somerville, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Bluesy Tuesy  (Facebook event)
7:30-11:00pm (lesson then dancing).  DJing blues from 9:45-11:00.

Thursday, January 16th ~ Somerville, Massachusetts (Boston area)
Blues Union (Facebook event)
7:30-10:30pm (lesson then dancing).  DJing blues from 9:30-10:30.

Saturday, January 25th ~ Hartford, Connecticut
9th Regiment of Foot Midwinter Ball (Facebook event)
8:00-11:00 (dinner and post-ball party also available)

Sunday, January 26th ~ New Haven, Connecticut
Swing & Blues Practicum for Yale Swing & Blues (Facebook event)
8:00-10:50pm  DJing blues from 9:25-10:50

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I am available for private lessons in Connecticut or on my various travels; during the latter, you must provide the dance space.  Email me directly if you would like to schedule a private lesson.

New Haven & Middletown, Connecticut: January 6-8, 10, 12-13, 21-31
New York City: January 9, 31
Boston area: January 14-20

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Coming in February: waltz and blues in Boston and Connecticut plus the Dance Flurry!