Dancing with Jane Austen in February
Jane Austin in the Indre-et-Loire
Imagine my surprise to find a “Day of English Dance”, in the Regency style as described in the novels of Jane Austen, being advertised by the Library in the village of Ligueil just 12km North of where we live in the Indre-et-Loire, in Central France. It’s even more surprising to know, because we have been running a dance club in Le Grand Pressigny, teaching British and American traditional dances, for over 6 years now and we had no idea there was a connection so close to us.
Some Brief background.
My wife Patience and I have danced English “Playford Style Dances” (published between 1651 - 1750), English Country Dance and American style Contra and Square Dance for many years in Britain and America.
Along with our friend, David Henderson who has been involved in Folk music and dance for many years, we teach British and American Folk Dances dance every Tuesday morning in the Salle des Fetes, in Le Grand Pressigny, at 10h30. It’s very social, very enjoyable and not too serious. New dancers are always welcome. If you wish to know more about the origins of these dances, please read my Blog Post - “Social Dance Explored” from June 2023, or visit our Club Facebook Page - Danse Pressignoise.
…..and so to Jane Austen
It is the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen this year.
Jane was an English novelist. She is best known for her novels, six in all, which use the 18th century English landed gentry as their subject matter. The reader quickly discovers that the heroes in Austen’s novels are strong, independent women. The stories explore the social etiquette of the day when women had to rely on marriage to acquire financial security and social standing.
Jane Austen never married. She wanted a relationship based on love and not social convenience. It was not the norm in her time for women to be independent, but that is what Austen achieved by writing her six famous novels and living from the income she generated.
In her novels, Jane uses the traditional and society dances of the period to explore the relationships between her characters. Regular dances were held in places like the Pump Rooms and the Assembly Rooms in the city of Bath, and in many stately homes around the country. They were an opportunity for young debutantes to be seen in public and to talk with members of the opposite sex. By dancing, they were able to touch each other, albeit formally, but it enabled contact which could not be achieved in other situations.
Jane describes these dances as being “certain steps toward falling in love”. Even the famous Mr Darcy was not naturally excited by the dances as he had “not the least intention” of joining in. That was, of course, until he met Elizabeth Bennet. This was the nature of courtship in the Regency Era.
Many of the dances in Jane Austen’s novels, and for the citizens around her, were taken from the publications of John Playford and his son Henry Playford. They published English Country Dances from 1651 - 1751. These dances were still popular at the time of Jane Austen’s birth in 1775.
These days, the dances from this period are danced by people all over the world. There are those who focus on the “Playford Style” dances and they can be found dancing at Playford Balls, often in costume. Then there are those who also include the dances from the Regency period and they too dance in costume. If you happen to visit the city of Bath (the city in which Jane Austen lived for many years), you may well see people walking about the city in their Regency costumes.
Thanks to Hampshire Regency Dancers for allowing me to use these pictures from their website.
Expectations
I’m always fascinated to experience other people teaching the dances I know so well. There can be great opportunities for learning and observing the local teacher's methods and terminology.
While mentioning terminology, I should point out that many of the names for the dance movements were developed by English Dancing Masters when they travelled to the courts of Europe to teach this very English style of dance. The common courtly language in the 14th and 15th centuries was French. Hence we have movements called Do-si-Do (dos à dos or back to back.) A list of dance instructions in French can be downloaded from my website. Dance Instructions Download:
The Day of the Dance.
The day of dance started 10h00 in the Salle des Fêtes in Ligueil, Le Forum. An excellent space which I hope we can use for a dance in the future. There was a surprisingly large number of people who had gathered on this winter’s Saturday morning for an activity (English Dance) which is not part of the French culture. I was pleased that several dancers from our club had chosen to attend.
I immediately experienced a 60 year dancing lifetime first which was to see a large screen behind the stage on which there was a PowerPoint presentation for each dance. It was quite disconcerting as what did one do? Look at the screen, or pay attention to one’s partner, or listen to the caller?
I found that the mixture of languages and codes used by the teacher somewhat confusing too. The poor sound system and my understandably slower processing of the French language led to one or two minor errors which I would not have made in an English language environment. Where there were no word equivalents we were still encouraged to “Set and turn single”; “Cast”; “Cross” while also being asked to “ronde à gauche” or “tour à deux mains” and who was doing this? F1 F2 H1 H2 C1 or C2. (I’ll let you, dear reader, work out what that all means). Meanwhile, the men were being referred to as “Chou” (cabbage) and the women being “Fleur”, neither of which appeared on the PowerPoint. I’m glad I knew how to dance!
The organiser, Fred Delrieux, is a good teacher and quickly introduced the basic English movements to the dancers, many of whom were beginners and many who were not. Through the morning we danced several well-known, but not complicated, dances which would have been danced in Jane Austen’s time. Including “Upon a Summer’s Day”, “Childgrove”, “The Spaniard”, “Millison’s Jig”, and, later in the day, a dance that would not have been danced at that time, called “John Tallis’ Canon” constructed by Pat Shaw in 1962. This seemed to be a bit bizarre, but it was clearly a challenge for the more experienced dancers. (See video Above)
The musician’s arrived for the afternoon. A Violinist, Flautist and a percussionist. At first they seemed uncomfortable with the style of the music, the tempos or speed of the music, and connecting their introductions to the first beat of the dance tune, which caused many dancers to stumble on the first steps they took. There were “Scottish” honouring chords sometimes, which of course, are not part of the English tradition. Needless to say, as a musician, I found this somewhat frustrating. I am pleased to say that the musicians became more successful as the day progressed and in the evening playing they played with better tempos, and more clarity of phrase, providing an adequate accompaniment to the dance.
The evening Ball was advertised as having English “Contra Dances”. At the time of John and Henry Playford, English Longways Dances, whether they be “Proper” (men in one line and ladies in another facing their partners), or Improper (with alternate men and women in long lines) were called Contra Dances in Europe, but not so in England. Even Beethoven wrote a collection of 24 Contra Dances for the piano. Contra Dance, in the 21st Century is a fast moving, aerobic style of dance rooted in these older English Longways dances and developed in America. (See my Blog Post - “Contra Dance - A Personal Reflection.” At this event we actually danced English Longways Dances “for as many as will.”.
A great evening’s Dance
It was good to see a small group of dancers had turned out in period costume. The majority were in just ordinary smart clothes. Everyone was determined to have a good time and the evening passed quickly. I was pleased that our dancers stayed to the end and we’ll have some new dances for our next few club meetings.
A very worthwhile event and so close to home. I wonder if this event will be repeated. We would certainly go along to support the event.
An excellent post, thanks for your valuable comments & observations. Fingers crossed we’re offered another such day of festive dancing so close to home.