Capering & Kickery

September 2024 Gig Calendar

This month is going to mostly be personal time for me: a family visit and an Actual Vacation^tm.  I'll be squeezing a few days of library research (three different sites) in around these, but mostly I'll be quietly traveling around doing non-dance things. 

Then, at the very end of the month, something new: Bridgerton dance!  This is specifically dance from the television series which -- news flash! -- is not intended to be historically accurate.  I regard the show as speculative fiction (alternate history) and the dances as fantastical, not historical.  You can read some of my thoughts about this here.  I taught a couple of these dances in Scotland last month, but this will be the first time teaching them in the USA.

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Sunday, September 29th ~ Middletown, Connecticut
"Dances of Bridgerton" class at Vinnie's Jump & Jive (Facebook event)
2:00-4:00pm.  Dearest Gentle Reader, you are cordially invited to a class on authentic dances from the fabulous Bridgerton TV series.  Time permitting, we'll learn one of Simon & Daphne's dances from Season 1, the "Harmony" dance from Season 2, and Colin & Penelope's dance from Season 3.  $18.00 per person cash at the door or $15.00 per person online in advance.  Details and advance registration form here.

 

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I am available to travel for in-person dance teaching, lecturing, and ball precepting.  I am also still available for private or group online lessons and talks via Skype or Zoom (or your videoconferencing software of choice).  Please email me directly if you would like to schedule an event or workshop!

Coming in October: blues in Boston, a dance history conference in Edinburgh, and perhaps a surprise event late in the month...

Cozy Corners

The turn-of-the-twentieth-century etiquette book Twentieth Century Culture and Deportment, or The Lady and Gentleman at Home and Abroad by Maude C. Cooke (Philadelphia: National Publishing Company, 1899) devoted part of a chapter on artistic home decorations to the "cozy corner".  The construction and decoration was described in some detail:

Have your carpenter make a double right-angle bench, with a high, straight back. The seat must be two and a half feet wide, and the top of the back five feet from the floor. This now looks like an ungainly three-sided square, or rather oblong, for it is better to have one side somewhat longer than the others. The wood should be stained cherry or oak, to match the other furniture in the room, and oiled and polished so as to be smooth and of rich appearance; or, use hard wood, black walnut, ebony, mahogany.

The seat and inside back may be thickly and prettily upholstered, and then piled high with pillows, or, the wood having been nicely finished, the upholstery may cover the seat only. Be sure and have the seat made low, otherwise the Cozy Corner will be uncomfortable, its name will be belied, and no one will hie to what might have been the favorite seat in the room...

...The seats should be piled with sofa pillows, and in the inclosure a few hassocks would not be found amiss.

The purpose of the cozy corner?

The word cozy suggests warmth and pleasantry, as well as comfort. Therefore, this corner is always by the fire, and those occupying it are presumably cheery and happy.

It is just the place to rest in, just the place to read in, just the place for you and your dearest friend to chat in, just the place to play a game in, as bags, balls, etc., could easily be tossed from one seat to the other; just the place to lay plans in, for you are in no hurry to move, and so your plans, not being hurriedly completed, would be more apt to prove satisfactory; just the place to nap in, just the place to frolic in. Indeed, just the place to add to our already comfortable homes if we would have them one remove nearer the ideal home than they now are.

(quotes from pp. 479-80; the entire book may be found online at Project Gutenberg)

This being a dance history blog and not a nineteenth century home decor blog, one might wonder why exactly I find cozy corners worthy of attention.  Oddly enough, at least in early twentieth century Maine, they seem to have sometimes formed part of the decorations at college dances! 

Highland Mazourka

Let's get the important part out of the way first:

The Highland Mazourka is not a mazurka.  

It is, however, a delightful example of the nineteenth-century tendency to transpose dances from one time signature to another.  In this case, typical polka mazurka sequences have been transposed from 3/4 time to 4/4 time with a bit of extra hopping added to fill out the music, which should be of the Scottish strathspey style.  The polka mazurka itself consisted partly of polka (2/4) steps transposed to 3/4 time.  Confused by all these shifting time signatures?  Fear not; all will be made clear below!

August 2024 Gig Calendar

I'll be starting out August with a couple of weeks in Scotland.  The first weekend, I'll be teaching a dance workshop and leading a tea dance in Edinburgh, both with a general theme of Scottish dances influenced by or connected to those of Continental Europe and Continental dances that appeared in Scottish sources.  The second weekend, I'll be having a very eclectic time at the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, which for me will include giving a popularly-oriented paper, leading a masquerade ball for which I've been reconstructing some truly terrifying dances from video, and DJ'ing a blues dance.  In between: library time and perhaps a bit of tourism!

Later in the month I'm looking forward to a reunion with a group of my most dedicated online students from pandemic times.

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Saturday-Sunday, August 3-4th ~ Edinburgh, Scotland
Edinburgh Victorian Weekend (Facebook) for Les Danses Antiques (Facebook)
6:00-9:00pm Saturday: Victorian tea dance at beautiful Inch House.  Beginner-friendly social dancing, all dances taught.  Live piano music and light refreshments.  Victorian costume encouraged but not required.  (Facebook event)
10:00am-1:00pm Sunday: A Bridge across the Sea: Continental Couple Dances in Scotland.  Beginner-friendly workshop in couple dance technique with dances including German Schottische, Varsovienne (La Va), Pas de Quatre, the timeless Waltz, and Dundee dancing master David Anderson’s unique Scottish-Continental fusion, the Highland Mazourka!  (Facebook event)
More information and tickets available here.

Thursday-Monday, August 8-12th ~ (Glasgow, Scotland)
Glasgow 2024: The World Science Fiction Convention (Facebook) (Instagram) (TikTok)
This is not a dance-focused event in general, but I will be conducting a Timey Wimey Masquerade Ball (dances from science fiction and fantasy TV shows and movies) on Friday from 4:00-6:30pm, presenting a paper on important Scottish sources for early nineteenth century French quadrilles on Saturday at noon, and DJ'ing a blues dance Sunday night after the Hugo Awards Ceremony from 10:30 to ???.  The paper will be streamed online to convention members.  There will also be two ceilidhs (Thursday and Monday nights) and two other DJ'ed club dances (Friday and Saturday late nights) during the weekend; see the dance programme page for details.  The full programme for the weekend will be released in late July.  Information about full-weekend memberships and day tickets to the convention are here.  There are no separate tickets for the dances or other individual events; you must buy either a full-weekend membership or a full-day ticket for the appropriate day.  Much more information about the convention on the website.

Saturday, August 31st ~ ONLINE / Connecticut-based
Cotillion Working Group Reunion Class (CDR)
4:00-6:00pm.  Private event.

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I am available to travel for in-person dance teaching, lecturing, and ball precepting.  I am also still available for private or group online lessons and talks via Skype or Zoom (or your videoconferencing software of choice).  Please email me directly if you would like to schedule an event or workshop!

Coming in September: Bridgerton dance!