29Apr 2025 by David Parsons

A History of Country Dancing – Beyond England

Dance history, Other
A History of Country Dancingwith an emphasis on the steps Anne Daye, HDS Director of Education and Research The Spread of the Country Dance beyond England Scotland The English country dance was first introduced to Scotland when James, Duke of York (later James II) was sent by King Charles to hold court at Holyrood. For his second sojourn in 1681, his daughter Princess Anne (later Queen Anne, and a talented dancer) enjoyed country dancing when confined indoors. The first known Scottish country dance is John Anderson my jo with choreography and tune found in a manuscript of 1704, yet the dance itself is in the style of the 1680s. Between 1704 and 1749 the development of a Scottish genre of country dance can be traced through manuscript sources. An indication…
Read More
29Apr 2025 by David Parsons

A History of Country Dancing – Twentieth Century

Dance history, Other
A History of Country Dancingwith an emphasis on the steps Anne Daye, HDS Director of Education and Research ‘Traditional’ Country Dances The shifting relationship between dance figures and tunes in the nineteenth century followed fashion and the whim of the dancer. However, a constant association between some dances and a tune became popular in certain localities, so that across time the dances were considered so longstanding as to form a traditional practice. A good example of this is The Triumph, first published in 1790 and still popular today. Walker 2001 traces the various forms of a dance that is considered ‘traditional’. The figures are those of the late eighteenth century ballroom, and the characteristic figure of bringing the lady up ‘in triumph’ between two men is an allemande hold for…
Read More
28Jun 2007 by EmilyBowen

On Common Ground 6: The Minuet in Time and Space (2007)

Conference publications
All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney, St Albans - 10-11 March 2007 The conference explored the essential dance of the 18th century, as a solo and a duet, from the 1700s to the 1900s, from the ballroom to the stage and even the silver screen. As well as listening to papers, participants experienced the variety of the minuet in several workshops. Most of the papers are available to download. Teresa Buckland – Keynote Lecture: The world we have lost: minuets and the past in late Victorian culture (not published in proceedings) Moira Goff – Seductive Decorum: the Solo Minuet for a Girl (Workshop) Download Grainne McArdle – The Minuet in Early Eighteenth-Century Dublin Society Download Giles Bennett – The Minuet in 18th-Century Dance Treatises (Workshop) Download Elizabeth Aldrich – Drooping…
Read More