General Dance Information
No previous experience is required to attend our events. All of our dances are authentic dances from the mid-19th century, and our dance programs are beginner-friendly. Almost every dance is taught right at the ball! Each night there is a souvenir dance card with the scheduled program, but we often have time to add "extras", usually a waltz and one or two contra dances.
We start off each evening with a Grand March, in which we form a long column (on Saturday it is a very long column!) of couples and follow the leading couples around the ballroom. Friday is less crowded, so we are a bit more adventurous in the shapes we can make!
Each evening we have at least two waltzes, which are the only dances which are not taught. We also do other Civil War-era couple dances, so each evening there is one polkai and one schottische on the program. We do quick "emergency" polka and schottische lessons at the balls for those who have never danced them before.
The rest of each night's program consists of set dances of various types:
On Friday night, we dance one or two quadrilles, which are nineteenth-century square dances. We especially enjoy mixer-type quadrilles like the Sociable in which you change partners frequently and slightly silly quadrilles like the Cheat or Coquette, which gives everyone a chance to tease and trick the other dancers. We also dance Pop Goes the Weasel, a fun contra dance done to the familiar childhood tune. Singing is welcome! We also frequently do a mescolanze, which is a country dance done in columns of four dancers in a line (two couples side by side).
On Saturday night, we traditionally do the contra dance Soldier's Joy in honor of the soldiers of the Civil War and the Spanish Dance, a beautiful and very popular waltz-contra, though you don't need to know how to waltz in order to dance it! We also often do a dance such as Rustic Reel, Highland Reel, or a Swedish Dance, which are all contra dances done in columns of trios, three dancers side by side.
Other contra dances that appear on our programs include the Gothic Dance, Speed the Plough, Light Dragoon, Twin Sisters, Merry Haymakers, The Tempest, Torryburn, Flower Girl's Dance, Chase the Lady, Lowe's Polonaise, Galway Reel, Kentucky Reel, German Waltz, and more!
And, of course, we always dance the Virginia Reel twice each evening, once at the end of each set!
Feel free to email or call if you have any questions about the dancing!
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THESE WERE THE 2024 DANCE PROGRAMS
PROGRAMS FOR 2025 WILL BE POSTED AUTUMN 2025
Friday
Grand March, Mescolanze, Schottische, Quadrilles, Waltz, Virginia Reel
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Pop Goes the Weasel, Polka, The Tempest, Waltz, Chase the Lady, Virginia Reel
Saturday
Grand March, Soldier's Joy, Schottische, Kentucky Reel, Waltz, Virginia Reel
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Spanish Dance, Twin Sisters, Polka, Highland Reel, Waltz, Virginia Reel
