The dance of society: a critical analysis… William B. De Garmo. Published 1875. Page Image Viewer | Bibliographic Info.

Group dances continued to dominate ballrooms during the early nineteenth century, especially the quadrille that evolved from the eighteenth-century contredanse française (also known as the cotillon). The ten or twelve changes that alternated with the figure, as was required in the contredanse française, were replaced by combining the figures, now called sets, to create a single dance. Performed by four couples facing a square, each set of figures, usually five, was performed to its own music, consisting of eight-bar phrases. A brief pause would separate each set. During the early nineteenth century, the dancers were required to bow to each other and their corners during the first eight bars of each set. By the middle of the century, the dancers simply waited for the eight bars to pass before starting the figures. Examples of some of the components that made up figures included: Forward and Backward; Going to the Right and Left; Crossing Over; Balance (also known as “set to partners”); Hands Around, English Chain (also known as Right and Left), Ladies’ Chain, and Moulinet. Often, the components were described by their French names; for example, the English Chain was called chaine anglaise. An example of a popular figure, known as Le Pantalon, consisted of the following components:

After the preliminary bows to partners and corners, the entire figure was performed first by the head couples, then repeated by the side couples. Many manuals and pamphlets were published to provide a repertory of sets of quadrilles. One of the most valuable of these treatises was by the English dancing master Thomas Wilson, c.1818 The quadrille and cotillion panorama (this online collection contains the 1822 edition). In this work, Wilson analyzed the figures and components of the quadrille and suggested hundreds of combinations. Barclay Dun’s 1818 A translation of nine of the most fashionable quadrilles, is an example typical of a manual that was devoted to the description of quadrille sets. (See Video Clip 20, and Video Clip 21 to view sample step sequences)

Late eighteenth-century contredanses were performed with a series of step sequences, and this tradition continued into the early nineteenth century. The most frequent combination of steps performed in quadrilles consisted of three chassés, a jeté, and an assemblé, used for figures such as the English Chain, Ladies’ Chain, and Half Promendade. An 1817 manual, Elements and Principles of the art of dancing, described step sequences that also required sissoné, two varities of échappé, temps levé, and glissade. Alexander Strathy, in his 1822 Elements of the art of dancing, adds more steps including changement, coupé, pas de zephyre, jeté tendu, and pirouette. Other authors, including Carlo Blasis (The code of terpsichore, 1830), suggested additional ornamental steps, which had an enormous range of technical difficulty; after the 1830s, many of the steps were simplified or dancers would simply walk through the figures. (See Video Clip 10 for an example of some waltz quadrille figures, sometimes called the waltz cotillion.)

An analysis of country dancing… Thomas Wilson. Published 1808. Page Image Viewer | Bibliographic Info.

The English country dance continued to enjoy popularity during the early nineteenth century. This online collection is represented by four manuals written by Thomas Wilson. His An analysis of country dancing, published in two versions, in 1808 and again in 1811, utilized text, tables, and diagrams to explain the dance figures. The complete system of English country dancing, originally published in 1808 was an expanded version of An analysis of country dancing. In his last work on the subject, The treasures of terpsichore, Wilson lamented that English country dancing would “be perverted into a chaos of riot and confusion.” Referred to as “those never ending still beginning performances” by Philadelphia etiquette writer Eliza Leslie, the informal structure of the country dance–where everybody had opportunity to dance with everybody else–proved difficult for a growing middle-class urban population. Social concern about the lack of appropriate introductions and an increasingly assumed familiarity among the dancing public became a growing scandal. However, country dances maintained some popularity in rural New England and, in 1863, The ball-room manual of contra dances was published in Belfast, Maine, to provide dancers with “the good old contra dances of our ancestors.”

The code of Terpsichore. Carlo Blasis. Published 1830. Page Image Viewer | Bibliographic Info.

Although Italian dancer and choreographer Carlo Blasis’s 1830 Code of Terpsichore was primarily a treatise on early nineteenth-century ballet, the manual included a chapter on “private dancing.” Likewise, E. A. Théleur’s 1832 Letters on dancing, another important source for early nineteenth-century ballet, included a section on social dancing called “La Danse de Société Francaise.” Théleur utilized his unique notation system to record the steps for the quadrille figure “L’Été,” which he dedicated to Lady Francis, one of his students.

The Scotch reel was a group dance that was performed in small groups of three to eight dancers and was popular in Britain and parts of the United States. It was rarely seen by mid-century, but descriptions of some of the lively ballroom steps (See Video Clip 49), such as kemshóole, kemkóssy, and lematrást were recorded in Francis Peacock’s 1805 Sketches relative to the history and theory, but more especially to the practice of dancing. Published in Aberdeen, the treatise is today also important for its description of the early nineteenth-century minuet.

Mid-nineteenth century practices. By the 1830s, dance and etiquette manuals began to pay closer attention to the growing ceremonial details of the home and ballroom. Rules and rituals were encouraged for a range of activities, including the proper fork to use while eating, the correct mode of delivering calling cards and issuing party invitations, and the right way to give parties and balls. Also of importance was the etiquette of asking a partner to dance, appropriate conversation while dancing a quadrille, the way to learn the latest steps and, of course, the importance of wearing the latest ballroom fashions.

In the United States, where society was beginning to grapple with the Industrial Revolution, the establishment of large urban areas, an expanding and upwardly mobile class system, these manuals were considered to be “self-helpers.” Manuals dictated categories of precise rules which, directed at the uninitiated, left nothing to chance. Diatribes on such themes as dirty linens and hands, spitting, and picking the nose were found in many mass-produced manuals, aimed at the growing middle class, who wished to better themselves and, of course, to learn the rules that would make them acceptable in “good society.” Often, these manuals were paperbacks and were parts of self-help series, available for as little as ten cents as, for example, Beadle’s dime ball-room companion and guide to dancing, published in New York by Beadle and Company in 1868. [ReadMore]