I can teach you and your fella to dance anyway-just not necessarily in a style of which Cellarius would necessarily have approved.
As far as I know, one dance was not tantamount to anything other than a desire to dance with a given lady. In fact, a gentleman might be introduced to a lady at a ball for the sole purpose of making it acceptable for him to ask her for a dance. It was one of the duties of the floor managers to ensure that ladies and gentlemen were introduced for the purpose of dancing.
Such an introduction, though, did not count as an introduction for social purposes; on encountering her in the street, subsequent to the ball, he would not have been permitted to address her or presume on the ball-room acquaintance.If he wanted to speak to the lady after the ball, he would have to secure a proper introduction, through an appropriate third party known to both of them.
Strangely enough, the dance manuals do not state what degree of introduction was sufficient to permit the recently introduced couple to make out in the garden. Yet another glaring omission!
I am not certain you are right about the position of the hand in the 1870s picture. I think it may still be at the waist. We can try it sometime with picture in hand.
I am also unclear as to whether the gentleman's (or Gentleman's) hand need always be in the center (horizontally) of the back. I have heard some dance masters (though not 150 year old ones) suggest that it should be offset a little, essentially lightly gripping (but not squeezing) the lady's left erector muscle.
I think that rather than having students who were all tall, they probably had students who were all short.
Pooh, said Bother, that was me.eclecticmagpieAugust 15 2007, 04:04:34 UTC
I saw at the last minute that I was anonymous, and tried to interrupt the posting process. LJ permitted me to log in, but interrupted the login to complete the post. Anonymous posts can't be deleted by their poster.
Re: Pooh, said Bother, that was me.zingerellaAugust 15 2007, 11:08:03 UTC
And so I shall respond to this nonymous post rather than the one above ;-).
You know, you're right about the image from the '70s. It looks as if the elbow might be at an acute angle, but it's not clear. The images from Gilbert in 1890 clearly show the gentleman's hand a few inches above the lady's waist, not as high as her shoulders, but that's a whole generation later.
The '70s picture also shows the couple in a very open, offset position, not the more closed position that I tend to favour. I mean, she's really close to him, but he's also clearly walking around her
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As far as I know, one dance was not tantamount to anything other than a desire to dance with a given lady. In fact, a gentleman might be introduced to a lady at a ball for the sole purpose of making it acceptable for him to ask her for a dance. It was one of the duties of the floor managers to ensure that ladies and gentlemen were introduced for the purpose of dancing.
Such an introduction, though, did not count as an introduction for social purposes; on encountering her in the street, subsequent to the ball, he would not have been permitted to address her or presume on the ball-room acquaintance.If he wanted to speak to the lady after the ball, he would have to secure a proper introduction, through an appropriate third party known to both of them.
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I am also unclear as to whether the gentleman's (or Gentleman's) hand need always be in the center (horizontally) of the back. I have heard some dance masters (though not 150 year old ones) suggest that it should be offset a little, essentially lightly gripping (but not squeezing) the lady's left erector muscle.
I think that rather than having students who were all tall, they probably had students who were all short.
'tis a vexing problem indeed.
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You know, you're right about the image from the '70s. It looks as if the elbow might be at an acute angle, but it's not clear. The images from Gilbert in 1890 clearly show the gentleman's hand a few inches above the lady's waist, not as high as her shoulders, but that's a whole generation later.
The '70s picture also shows the couple in a very open, offset position, not the more closed position that I tend to favour. I mean, she's really close to him, but he's also clearly walking around her ( ... )
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