English Ballroom Dance

English Ballroom Dance

by Benjamin Secino

English Ballroom Dance

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Abstract

This milestone explores modern English Ballroom Dance styles, techniques, and histories. Specifically, the objective of this milestone will be to provide a historical background for International Waltz, to experience this and other International styles through classes, and to generate a video demonstration of an International Waltzroutine.

Prior to embarking on this milestone, Benjamin Secino took over one hundred hours of Ballroom classes at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, learning International Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep, American Waltz, Foxtrot, International Cha Cha, Rumba, Jive, Mambo, Bolero, Samba, American Cha Cha, Rumba, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, and Lindy Hop. Benjamin competed in four collegiate Ballroom competitions, winning five ribbons. Benjamin is also the Treasurer of the WPI Ballroom Dance Team.

Introduction

I suggest you save this section for last. Describe the essence of this project. Cover what the project is and who cares in the first two sentences. Then cover what others have done like it, how your project is different. Discuss the extent to which your strategy for completing this project was new to you, or an extension of previous HUA experiences.

As you continue to think about your project milestones, reread the "Goals" narrative on defining project milestones from the HU2900 syllabus. Remember: the idea is to have equip your milestone with a really solid background and then some sort of "thing that you do". You'll need to add in some narrative to describe why you did the "thing that you did", which you'd probably want to do anyway. You can make it easy for your advisors to give you a high grade by ensuring that your project milestone work reflects careful, considerate, and comprehensive thought and effort in terms of your background review, and insightful, cumulative, and methodical approaches toward the creative components of your project milestone deliverables.

Section 1: Background

Starting in the Middle Ages, Ballroom Dance evolved in Europe as a series of court dances. Although these dances were highly formal in nature, and were most often performed facing the throne, they owed many of their steps to folk dances . Indeed, besides location and atmosphere, very little distinction existed between court and folk dancing . In both cases, lines of dancers moved around the floor in lines or circles, joining together and moving apart as a group . One reason behind this style of movement was the constraint put upon dancers by the rooms they occupied. In the Middle Ages, it was common for rooms to have a central hearth, completely blocking the center of the floor . This forced dancers to move in lines around the periphery of the floor, or to dance in compact square or circular arrangements. Even when chimneys and hearths began to move to the sides of dance floors, the contra dance style remained dominant .

Within the overarching contra dance style, new variations were constantly being introduced . Each of these dances needed to be learned and memorized before it could be performed on the dance floor. Learning these dances required either a dedicated instructor or the study of a dance manuel. One of the earliest dance manuels was written by John Playford in 1651, and features instructions and music for one hundred fifty dances . For the next several hundred years, the only major developments in social dancing were these ever-new variations. But while these variations allowed for social dance to take on different characteristics and flavors, they stopped short of delivering anything fundamentally new. This revolution would have to wait until 1812, the year that Waltz entered into the repertoire of English Ballroom dance.

Waltz: Dancing to a New Tune

Waltz differed from all previous English ballroom dances in several fundamental ways. Waltz introduced body contact, a sustained close hold, and a great deal of rapid spinning, all of which came as a shock to English culture. Waltz first entered England in 1812 through an elite dance club in London called Almack's Assembly Rooms. At the time, Almack's served as a "marriage market" for debutantes, a place where aspiring young men and women would search for a match. The dance quickly gained popularity in this atmosphere, and garnered a less-than-savory reputation. Lord Byron was among the early skeptics, releasing a poem in 1813 titled, "Waltz: An Apostrophic Hymn," an excerpt of which appears below.

Waltz—Waltz—alone both legs and arms demands,
Liberal of feet—and lavish of her hands;
Hands which may freely range in public sight,
Where ne’er before—but—pray ‘put out the light.’
Methinks the glare of yonder chandelier
Shines much too far—or I am much too near;
And true, though strange—Waltz whispers this remark;
'My slippery steps are safest in the dark!'

Unfortunately for Byron, the popularity of Waltz quickly spread through the city and even gained a foothold with the Royal Family. Waltz was included in the 1816 royal ball, the Regent's Fête. In reaction to its appearance at the ball, the London Times published an editorial decrying the "voluptuous" dance, stating:

So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the evil example of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so foul a contagion.

Despite these strong words (or perhaps because of them), waltz became one of the favorite dances of the working and middle classes, who would practice at public dance halls. It is reported that Queen Victoria herself was an admirer of the waltz, and received extensive private lessons. To her regret, though, Queen Victoria could seldom practice the waltz in public because it was considered "undignified for the Sovereign to dance in the arms of a subject."
Waltz continued to grow in popularity through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gaining in both legitimacy and formality. Waltz had become the primary social dance in England by the mid-19th century, and retained this honor until after World War I. It wasn't until the introduction of dances even more salacious than the Waltz in 1918 that its popularity began to wane.

Popularization of Ballroom Dance

The development and expansion of Ballroom Dance in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the introduction of new dances and the rise of competitions.

Ballroom in the 21st Century

The current state of Ballroom Dancing.

Section 2: Deliverable

Additional Image

An overview of the classes taken and the routines learned.

International Waltz

An explanation of the Waltz routine and a video of a performance.

Gallery

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Conclusion

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External Links

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Image Gallery

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