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Assembly rooms [ Sports & Leisure / Associational culture / Dance, Music & Songs ]

… Places > Sports & Leisure Practices > Associational culture Practices > Dance, Music & Songs Mots-clés Politeness dancing Music leisure Entertainement Women Assembly rooms were institutions that encouraged and regulated sociability in the long eighteenth century, spaces where conversation, music, and dancing occurred. According to Peter Borsay, the oldest known assembly rooms date to the 1650s or 1660s in Tunbridge … offered in any given town or city. Inns were constructed with rooms specifically designed for large gatherings and dancing, an ideal place for the local community to gather. The 1838 advertisement for the sale of Whitby’s Angel Inn …

Shoes [ Clothing & Fashion ]

… of elite society. The fashion for high heels gave elite men a commanding posture over their social inferiors, whereas dancing shoes had a supple construction that facilitated the nimble footwork required at balls. Footwear therefore helps … 6 6 . John Feltham, A Guide to the Watering and Sea-Bathing Places (London: Longman, 1806), p. 33. The construction of a dancing shoe was very different to that of a shoe made for walking, or a boot made for riding. Although men’s dancing shoes were typically made of leather, the uppers were much softer than the leather used for outdoor shoes. The …

Ballet [ Dance, Music & Songs ]

… distaste for the French ballet’s decadence and required their own version of the art form. The English choreographer and dancing master, John Weaver, was a catalyst for this acceptance and progression, timed with London’s blossoming as a metropolis. Weaver was an exceptional dancing master from London well-known on the public stage. He offered dance instruction, created ballets, and published … Gasparro Angiolini and Jean-Georges Noverre. For more information see John Weaver, An Essay Towards an History of Dancing, in which the Whole Art and its Various Excellencies are in Some Measure Explain'd : Containing the Several Sorts …

Buckles [ Clothing & Fashion ]

… the candlelight and made a big impression at sociable events such as balls, where they highlighted the movements of the dancing body. It was also possible to achieve this look on the cheap, however, so they became the focus of anxieties … light. Buckles dazzled during a dance, drawing attention to the motions of the feet. They had their disadvantages when dancing – they were prone to breaking, coming off, or catching on a partner’s clothing – but the visual effect was worth … the candlelight and made a big impression at sociable events such as balls, where they highlighted the movements of the dancing body. It was also possible to achieve this look on the cheap, however, so they became the focus of anxieties …

Jane Austen [ Art and Literature ]

… position, particularly for a young woman with little money. Where her fictional heroines find husbands amongst their dancing partners, Austen herself remained single: a circumstance which left her financially precarious but probably … landowner, or a visiting one like Mr Darcy, chose to attend (Russel 184). Despite being governed by strict conventions, dancing was an erotically charged form of embodied sociability. For both sexes the ball represented the culmination of dancing lessons and long rehearsed social skills combining self-presentation with performance. A young lady’s first ball …

Touch and sociability [ Communication ]

… touch kissing signaling In The Miser Married (1813), Catherine Hutton’s heroine, Charlotte Montgomery, notes: ‘Dancing introduces a kind of familiarity that would be quite inadmissible in a drawing room. When a gentleman solicits … (Edinburgh, 1793). But see p. 21 for concerns about spontaneous conduct, such as laughter or showing spirit while dancing, being read for deeper and damning significance. 7 . Bonnie Hain and Carole McAllister, ‘James Boswell’s Ms. …