Third in my impromptu mini-series of late-nineteenth century French dances based on the schottische or pas-de-quatre is La Lyonnaise, which appears to me to be unimportant in and of itself but somewhat interesting as an example of typical variations and a source for variations to use in improvisation. Despite having been published in 1890, it does not appear in the seventh edition of Eugène Giraudet’s Traité de la danse, published in the early 1890s. It does turn up by the 58th edition (c1900), which informs us (via the extensive dance glossary in volume II) that Giraudet choreographed it himself. I don’t think it does him any particular credit; it’s just a mishmash of steps.
Capering & Kickery
Susan de Guardiola, Social Dance Historian
Welcome to the original-format Capering & Kickery blog! Due to the Typepad shutdown in September and the resultant move to WordPress, the entire post archive is not yet available, as each post must be individually edited (formatting, images, music, videos, links, etc.) and indexed before it is restored. Please check back regularly over the next few months to see the progress in rejuvenating the blog!
Note: in the restored posts below, most of the internal links (to other Kickery posts) will remain down until the linked post is also restored. If you have a request to prioritize a particular post or set of posts, please contact me at the email above!
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An Incident of Parisian Society, 1885
…or, at least, a story about an incident. I don’t have any way to prove that it actually occurred. But true or not, the story illustrates something I’ve been noticing about fancy dress balls over the course of the last month. The story was published in issue #40 (March, 1885) of The Nassau Literary Magazine, which was and is associated with Princeton University and is fully indexed online. The author was John Cass (J. C.) Mathis, Princeton class of 1886, the author of twenty-eight pieces for the magazine from 1884 to 1886. These appear to have included fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, so it’s hard to say from his publication record whether this story was memoir or fiction. I lean toward thinking it was the latter, but even as fiction, it’s an interesting example of what was seen to be realistic at the time.
The story was supposedly related to Mathis by a friend who had just returned from a tour of Europe. While there, this nameless friend and become close to Victor, son of a prominent family. It was ball season in Paris, between New Year’s and Lent, and Mathis’ friend was invited to a fancy dress ball at the home of Victor’s mother, Madam de Brissac. Apparently masks were worn as well as costumes. Details are given only of one: a lady in Spanish costume with whom Mathis’ friend was quite taken:
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A Fancy Dress Ball, Singapore, 1884
Originally posted in substantially similar form on February 11, 2011, at Historical Fancy Dress.
As can be seen from my other posts about fancy dress and masquerade balls, newspapers from the eighteenth century well into the twentieth often published lists of the costumes worn by the guests. The lists were often provided in advance of the actual event, so it’s possible not all of the costumes worked out, as anyone who’s ever tried to finish a costume at the last minute before a ball will understand.
The costumes were evidently more important than the dancing; while lists of outfits are routine in these writeups, full dance programs are rare and any information at all is not very common. This apparently held true even halfway around the world. The excerpts and costume lists below are from a fancy dress ball held by British expatriates in Singapore (!) in 1884. The sole mention of dancing is the opening quadrille.
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A Calico Ball, British Columbia, 1885
As described by Lucie Armstrong in The Ball-Room Guide (London and New York, c1880):
The Calico Ball is a fancy ball at which the dresses are made of calico. Sateen, chintz and velveteen are allowable, and any other material which is made of cotton. The invitation, of course, states the nature of the ball.
It really seems to have been primarily about the fabric rather than any costume theme, though obviously some costumes will work better when made out of cottons than others. She goes on to make some suggestions. For ladies: a dairymaid, a charity girl from St. Giles’, or a Dresden shepherdess. For gentlemen: a Maltese peasant, Albanian costume, Saxon dress, or an Italian peasant.
The anonymous author of Masquerades, tableaux and drills (New York, 1906) added more details:
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The Hewitts’ Plant Party, 1898
Originally posted in substantially similar form on September 24, 2010, at Historical Fancy Dress.
Jumping forward in time, from The New York Times on February 18, 1898 comes a full description of a very successful themed fancy dress event: a "Plant Party". The ladies were asked to dress in some "representative" costume, while the gentlemen were expected to appear in ordinary evening clothes and were given something like a vegetable boutonniere at the door. Supposedly, this was copied from something that Louis XVI did it at Versailles. I'd certainly like to see a description of that!
Sadly, very little information is given about the dancing: there was some, informal, after supper, and with no cotillion.
No full list of costumes was published, but there are some excellent examples at the end of how the ladies trimmed their gowns to match the theme.
I've transcribed the entire article below.
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Mrs. Walker’s Masqued Ball, 1804
Jumping from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century:
I first came across a description of Mrs. Walker's Masqued Ball as it was published in a Philadelphia journal, The Port-Folio, on January 19, 1805, with a credit to the The Morning Post, a noted London newspaper which famously covered the social activities of the upper classes in Regency England.
For several years, I had the article filed under the date 1805, but with a suspicious note attached because the outdoor party described (with a hostess concerned about the possibility of the heat being "oppressive") didn't sound likely to have occurred in January, even in England. I still haven't found the original Morning Post article, but I did turn up a shorter version of the same description (minus all the costume information) that was published in The Lancaster Gazette (of Lancaster, England, not Lancaster, Pennsylvania) on Saturday, July 14, 1804, with one critical word present:
on Wednesday se'nnight [emphasis mine]
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In Praise of the Simple
Wandering around the net, as one does, I came across a lovely video of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark participating in a traditional dance of the Faroe Islands, the kædedans, a circle dance (for a loose definition of "circle") that just so happens to have the same pattern as Branle Simple, one of the "opening branles" published by Thoinot Arbeau (Jehan Tabourot) in 1589 and described briefly by me nearly a decade ago, when I was doing more with Renaissance dance. Double left, single right. Repeat ad infinitum. Frederik and Mary both had a little trouble catching the pattern, in exactly the same way that I've seen people have trouble with Branle Simple nowadays (no, really, go left twice then right, but only once to the right, no, it's not symmetrical…). That's kind of charming; don't they prep royalty before these events?
Here's the video:
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Zebley’s Tango
Moving right along with my tiny tango post series, here's another sequence from F. Leslie Clendenen's two editions of Dance Mad (St. Louis, 1914). This one is simply called "Tango" and was provided by T. Victor Zebley, a Washington, D.C., dancing master. It isn't really a "tiny" tango; it's a full thirty-two measures, which is enough for a full-fledged sequence dance.
Zebley's tango is very straightforward to reconstruct and, provided one remembers the full sequence, easy to dance, with three points where the dancers can make some minor choices of their own. I give my preferences, but also describe the other options in the performance notes below.
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“Mixed Pickles” Tango
Continuing with my lengthening series of tiny tango sequences from the first and second editions of F. Leslie Clendenen’s compilation Dance Mad (St. Louis; both editions 1914), here’s another short (sixteen-bar) tango sequence. If not performed by all the dancers on the floor in unison, it must be done with care, since the dancers move directly against line of dance at two separate points.
For such a short sequence, there are quite a few niggling little problems with the instructions and reconstruction, which I’ll talk about a bit below.
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CD Review: North & South
I received the CD North & South: Forgotten Music from the American Civil War (Gaslantern Records, 2013) and its accompanying sheet music as a birthday gift this year, and a very lovely gift it was! Sixteen new pieces of historical music, beautifully played by the Orchestra of the Gilded Age, conducted by Jeffrey Hunter, many of them suitable for dancing!Edited 1/25/2026 to add: Sadly, this company seems to be out of business and the CD and sheet music book are no longer available for sale, though they might still be found used somewhere. All links have been changed to archive links.