COVE

This image from Thomas Wilson’s Analysis of Country Dancing instruction manual shows the five positions of dancing that were utilized in Regency Era Assembly Rooms.  These positions were used in a variety of different dances that were popular at the time including minuets, country dance, cotillions, and Waltzes.  These dances occurred at both the public assemblies and private balls. 

Allison Thompson discusses specific dances that were done at the Bath Assembly Rooms in her paper, “The Rules of Assembly: Dancing at Bath and Other Spas in the Eighteenth Century.”  She explains that, prior to 1800, events at the Bath Assembly Rooms began with minuets — a dance that was meant for only one couple at a time — for about an hour.  This was commonplace at many other balls, but the dance began to lose popularity at the beginning of the Regency Era and was rarely done by 1816.  Also prior to the 19^th century, following the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, cotillions were popular.  Cotillions were a French Dance for two or four couples that had standard steps but also had more complicated “figures” that were specific to each tune.  Thompson explains that, because these dances were more complicated than the others, there were normally only one or two of these performed each evening.  The quadrille was a similar dance to the cotillion, but much shorter.  This dance was first officially danced at Almack’s Assembly Rooms in 1815. 

After the first hour of the evening, upon the conclusion of the minuets were the country dances.  Nora Foster Stovel explains the patterns of country dancing and how each aspect parallels the narratives present in Austen’s novels.  She discusses three specific patterns in her paper: “the practice of moving up and down the line…the pattern of changing partners…and the equality of the sexes” (Stovel 2). 

In country dance, the men and the women would line up opposite each other, and each partnership would work its way up and down the line of couples until each couple had moved to the top of the line.  As each couple moved up and down the line, couplings would change, but each dancer would return to their original partner by the end of the dance.  Jaqueline Reid-Walsh discusses that country dance during this time period was a symbol of equality because men and women are equal during a dance, as their movements parallel each other, and they move in synchronicity. 

Waltzes emerged in Britain during the 1790s, with several descriptions of it being published in the early 1800s; however, the first recording dancing of a waltz was in 1812 with the first variation being what was known as the German Waltz.  This particular style of waltz has evolved into what is now known as the Viennese Waltz.  The Waltz spurred several controversies, likely because it was a more sensual dance, as one of the common figures for this Waltz is an embrace around the waist.   

Works Cited

Cooper, Paul. "The Regency Waltz." Regency Dances, 14 Apr. 2015, www.regencydances.org/paper013.php. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

"Dances of the Regency Era." York Regency Dancers, yorkregencydancers.com/regency-dance/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

Reid-Walsh, Jaqueline. "'Entering the World' of Regency Society: the Ballroom Scenes in Northanger Abbey, 'The Watsons' and Mansfield Park." Persuasions, no. 16, 1994. Jane Austen Society of North America, jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions/no16/reid-walsh/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Stovel, Nora Foster. "'A Country-Dance as an Emblem of Marriage' in Northanger Abbey." Persuasions On-Line, vol. 40, no. 1, winter 2019. Jane Austen Society of North America, jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/volume-40-no-1/stovel/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

Thompson, Allison. "The Rules of the Assembly: Dancing at Bath and Other Spas in the Eighteenth Century." Persuasions On-Line, vol. 31, no. 1, winter 2010. Jane Austen Society of North America, jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol31no1/thompson.html. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Wilson, Thomas. The Complete System of English Country Dancing, Containing All the Figures Ever Used in English Country Dancing, with a Variety of New Figures, and New Reels. London, 1815. Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/05029718/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

---. The Five Positions of Dancing. 1811. Wikipedia, upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Five_positions_of_dancing_Wilson_1811.jpg. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.