Overview

From Chaucer to Fitzgerald, writers have used dancing as a vital, if subtle, element in plot and character development. The ballroom, an important element of society in real life, was a backdrop to grand passions or pivotal encounters--ideal ground for commentary on the social milieu. This work presents 88 literary selections (from etiquette manuals, diaries, poems, plays, essays and novels) that together form a survey of social dance in England and America over a span of 500 years. They illustrate specific dances, social dance behavior or the intimate reactions of participants. One finds, for example, the ultimate downfalls of Flaubert's Emma Bovary, Hardy's Eustacia Vye, and Tolstoy's Anna Karenina are all foretold in pivotal dance scenes. Fully indexed.

Full Product Details

Author:   Allison Thompson
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.40cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.367kg
ISBN:  

9780786473915

ISBN 10:   0786473916
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   19 November 2012
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Table of Contents Preface      From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance: 1400 to 1650 Introduction      Sir Mirthe’s Carole (GEOFFREY CHAUCER)      Instruction in the Dance (THOINET ARBEAU)      The Masque of Beauty (BEN JOHNSON)      Of Masques and Triumphs (FRANCIS BACON)      At the Wedding of Lady Quiteria (MIGUEL CERVANTES)      Fetchen Home the May (EDMUND SPENSER)      Foot It, Girls! (WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE)      Rallied by Scorn (WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE)      Wooing, Wedding and Repenting (WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE)      The Bridal Feast (THOMAS HEYWOOD)      Good Fellows Must Go Learn to Dance (ANONYMOUS)      The Dance of Love (SIR JOHN DAVIES)      The Restoration of Pleasure: 1651 to 1759 Introduction      Preface to the English Dancing Master (JOHN PLAYFORD)      Of the Ceremonial Observed at the King’s Grand Ball (P. RAMEAU)      This Day (SAMUEL PEPYS)      Nothing So Necessary to Mankind (MOLIERE)      The Gentleman Dancing Master (WILLIAM WYCHERLEY)      The Art of Dancing (SOAME JENYNS)      It May Be Practiced Innocently (EUSTACE BUDGELL)      Joan Sanderson, Or, the Cushion Dance (JOHN PLAYFORD)      Gratiana Dancing (RICHARD LOVELACE)      Don’t Be Ridiculous (LORD CHESTERFIELD)      Attention to the Dance (LORD CHESTERFIELD)      Genteel Carriage (LORD CHESTERFIELD)      Dancing the Rudiment of Polite Education (HENRY FIELDING)      Pamela’s Lament (SAMUEL RICHARDSON)      The May-Pole (ROBERT HERRICK)      The Country Life (ROBERT HERRICK)      Joan to the Maypole Away (ANONYMOUS)      The Rural Dance About the May-Pole (ANONYMOUS)      The May Pole Speaks (THOMAS HALL)      The Age of Reason: 1760 to 1799 Introduction      Rules for an Amicable Society (BALTIMORE ASSEMBLY)      A Treatise on the Art of Dancing (GIOVANNI GALLINI)      Evelina Makes a Mistake (FRANCES BURNEY)      Her Grandmother Takes Evelina to a Ball (FRANCES BURNEY)      Fashions and Follies (FRANCES BURNEY)      These Damn’d French Steps (RICHARD SHERIDAN)      The Jealous Lover (RICHARD SHERIDAN)      The Pleasures of Bath (TOBIAS SMOLLETT)      The Vicar Holds an Informal Frisk (OLIVER GOLDSMITH)      The Grace (LAURENCE STERNE)      The Pleasures of Dancing (J. W. VON GOETHE)      The Regency: 1800 to 1836 Introduction      Our Boasted National Dance (THOMAS WILSON)      Country Dance and Quadrille (THOMAS MOORE)      Mr. Bingley’s Success at the Ball (JANE AUSTEN)      The Usages of Society (CHARLES W. DAY)      Tom and Jerry Visit Almack’s Ballroom (PIERCE EGAN)      Waltzing (THOMAS WILSON)      The Waltz; An Apostrophic Hymn (GEORGE, LORD BYRON)      Mr. Tilney Likens Marriage to Country Dancing (JANE AUSTEN)      Bewitching Converse During the Dance (JANE AUSTEN)      Mr. Fezziwig’s Christmas Dance (CHARLES DICKENS)      Fanny Is the Guest of Honor (JANE AUSTEN)      And Then He Danced (GEORGE, LORD BYRON)      In the Reign of the Young Queen: 1837 to 1869 Introduction      A Sample Dance Card (BEADLE’S DIME GUIDE)      Modern Manners (L. DE G. BROOKES)      The Art of Dancing (THOMAS HILLGROVE)      Madame Bovary Learns to Waltz (GUSTAVE FLAUBERT)      And Then She Danced (W. M. PRAED)      New Impressions (LOUISA MAY ALCOTT)      Mr. Jorrocks in Paris (ROBERT SURTEES)      Description of a Ball at Paris (“L.”)      On Domestic Amusements and Social Duties (CATHERINE BEECHER)      An Hour in a Ball-Room (M. A. DENISON)      The Belle of the Ball (CAROLINE LEE HENTZ)      Concerning Round Dances (ALFRED L. CARROLL)      A Social Cancer! (W. C. WILKINSON)      Eustacia Goes A-Gypsying (THOMAS HARDY)      The Tranter’s Party (THOMAS HARDY)      They Dance More Wildly (THOMAS HARDY)      The Sanitary Ball (MARK TWAIN)      The Lobster Quadrille (LEWIS CARROLL)      The Gilded Age: 1870 to 1899 Introduction      Fashionable Dancing (MRS. JOHN SHERWOOD)      Round Dances (REV. CHARLES B. GOSS)      The Boston Dip (FRED. W. LORING)      Young Tom Decides the Redowa Is Worth Learning (LOUISA MAY ALCOTT)      Advice to a Leader of a “German” (TWO AMATEUR LEADERS)      The Band Played On (PALMER AND WARD)      The Fateful Meeting (COUNT LEO TOLSTOY)      A Southern Michigan Kadrille (DELLA LUTES)      The End of an Era: 1900 to 1918 Introduction      Dancing As an Art (V. AND I. CASTLE)      Basil Goes to a Tea Dance (F. SCOTT FITZGERALD)      The Man with Two Left Feet (P. G. WODEHOUSE)      Distinction Vanished with the Cotillion (EMILY POST)      The Sub-Deb’s Holaday Cotillion (MARY R. RINEHART)      Waltz Me Around Again, Willie (W. COBB)      An Old-Fashioned Country Dance (RALPH D. PAINE)      The Dance in the Heartlands (WILLA CATHER)      Index     

Reviews

fun and interesting...Thompson displays an impressive depth and breadth of knowledge about both literature and dance. It's must reading for serious students of dance history, and a valuable companion to lovers of literature --<i>Green Man Review</i>; the well-chosen excerpts present a splendidly comprehensive picture of each era...it is convenient as well as enlightening to have this verbal pageant of bygone morals and manners in a single, readable volume...selections illustrate specific dances, social dance behaviors or the intimate reactions of participants --<i>JASNA News</i>; don't skip the preface. It's a well-written overview of the significance of social dance in England and America from 1400 to 1918 that prepares readers [to] better understand and appreciate the literary selections that follow...a valuable reference for readers interested in social history, dance history, and literature --<i>The Reviewers Consortium</i>; Thompson has collected 88 literary excerpts spanning 500 years...an enjoyable and informative book for lovers of both dance and literature --<i>Country Dance Song Society</i>; describes social dance through the literature of the eras...'Contra' dancers will find this book indispensable with its history of their craft and its discussions of still-current problems --<i>Society of Folk Dance Historians</i>; [a] very good source --<i>Ricardian Registry.</i>

fun and interesting...Thompson displays an impressive depth and breadth of knowledge about both literature and dance. It's must reading for serious students of dance history, and a valuable companion to lovers of literature --Green Man Review; the well-chosen excerpts present a splendidly comprehensive picture of each era...it is convenient as well as enlightening to have this verbal pageant of bygone morals and manners in a single, readable volume...selections illustrate specific dances, social dance behaviors or the intimate reactions of participants --JASNA News; don't skip the preface. It's a well-written overview of the significance of social dance in England and America from 1400 to 1918 that prepares readers [to] better understand and appreciate the literary selections that follow...a valuable reference for readers interested in social history, dance history, and literature --The Reviewers Consortium; Thompson has collected 88 literary excerpts spanning 500 years...an enjoyable and informative book for lovers of both dance and literature --Country Dance Song Society; describes social dance through the literature of the eras...'Contra' dancers will find this book indispensable with its history of their craft and its discussions of still-current problems --Society of Folk Dance Historians; [a] very good source --Ricardian Registry.

Author Information

Allison Thompson is a writer, historian, and folk dance leader and musician. (She was the student dance leader for the Elizabethan May Day festival held at Earlham College in 1977.) She lives in Pittsburgh.

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