Read Jane Austen For Dummies Online
Authors: Joan Elizabeth Klingel Ray
Jane Austen For Dummies (23 page)
Children of the gentry were expected to perform even the liveliest dances with grace and style. Sometimes dancing masters were brought from the town or city to the country estate to instruct the boys and girls in the graceful skill of dancing. Dancing was also taught in school. When Jane Austen's brothers, Frank and Charles, went at age 12 to the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth, part of the curriculum was dancing for these young gentlemen-in-training.
Just think: British naval officers in the Napoleonic Wars could order cannon fire at the French ships while doing their Scotch steps to avoid the bullets being fired at them â which was exactly what happened, because the ships were very close to each other. In fact, Admiral Nelson died from an enemy sniper's bullet fired at him when he was on deck, though whether he was practicing dance steps at the time is doubtful!
Jane Austen also made sure that her two most famous heroes,
Pride and Prejudice
's Darcy and
Emma
's Mr. Knightley, could dance extremely well, despite each man claiming to dislike dancing â exactly what one would expect from a gentleman who isn't a total klutz.
And what about the ladies? Daughters of the gentry also had dancing lessons as children. When Jane and Cassandra, at ages 9 and 12, respectively, attended The Abbey School as boarding students, dancing was part of the curriculum. They also danced at home, even as children.
The Family Record
tells the charming anecdote of a Christmas Holiday gathering at Steventon Rectory in 1786, the Austens' home until Jane was 25, when she (having just turned 11 on December 16), her sister Cassandra, their brothers Henry, Frank, and Charles, and their cousins Jane and Edward Cooper were joined by their grown cousin, the Comtesse de Feuillide, who provided music on the pianoforte for “a very snug little dance” in the rectory's parlor for all the children under Mrs. Austen's direction (53â54). As children of the gentry, Jane Austen's heroines know how to dance. Even her least lively heroine,
Mansfield Park
's Fanny Price, dances in a manner that pleases her uncle Sir Thomas, who observes her and reflects that “education and manners she owed to him” (2:10). Her childhood education, which she shared with her wealthy cousins, Maria and Julia, Sir Thomas's daughters, included learning how to dance.
In Austen's novels, the dance form that most frequently appeared is the English Country Dance â so called because the dancing couple stood opposite
(être contre)
each other in a line. Thus,
contre
-dancing became Anglicized as country-dancing. A variation on forming the line was standing in a square or in a circle, but with the gentlemen and ladies still standing opposite each other.
Dancing was a group activity (no tangoing together across the dance floor). In fact, when the first one-on-one dance, the waltz, was introduced to England from the Continent around 1812, it was viewed as too risqué. Although Almack's, one of London's most exclusive assembly rooms, introduced the waltz in 1814, it took quite a while for the waltz to become acceptable, and none of Austen's characters waltz.
Thus, with no one-on-one dancing (in other words, alone as a couple), that's why the characters in Austen's novels are always dancing with other couples or looking for other couples to dance with them. (For more on the waltz, see the sidebar, “What about the waltz,” later in the chapter.)
Because couples standing in parallel lines (or a
set
) was the most popular dance formation, ballrooms were rectangular in shape. (See the sidebar “Socializing for a season.”)
Understanding the most basic rudiments of English Country Dancing helps readers of Austen's novels understand how this form of dancing enabled dance partners to further their relationship â even though the couple's physical contact while dancing was limited to occasionally holding hands. The dancing involves skipping and walking steps that include weaving in and out of one's lines in order to go from the bottom of the line or set to the top of the line or set. Couples remain in line, standing opposite each other, waiting their turns to dance again and move up the set to the top, which is the position closest to the musicians.
Because the English Country Dance is a type of dancing that includes numerous specific dances, the dancers must master many variations of the basic country dance movements and steps. Otherwise they risk messing up a line or set. This type of dancing was hard, if not impossible, to ad lib.
At times in the country dance, the choreography requires couples to stand and wait their turn to dance up the set. So they used the waiting time to talk with their partners, who stood just about two feet across from each other. They could even flirt verbally. A single dance was actually two dances, lasting a total of 30 minutes â about 29 minutes too long if you were on the dance floor with a person not exactly light on his feet, as poor Elizabeth is with Mr. Collins at the Netherfield Ball (PP 1:18). But having the same partner for 30 minutes offered an extended period for conversation with an individual you were truly interested in.
Because dancing in Austen's day involved minimal physical contact â holding hands with arms extended â people, especially country people, no matter how rich, were horrified of the waltz. Introduced to England from Germany in 1812, the waltz had a catchy rhythm, but it required the partners to be in close physical proximity, with the male partner's arm around the female's waist. Four years after its introduction, the scandalous waltz was approved by England's great dancing arbiter, Thomas Wilson. Even then, the waltz was only approved for married couples who were dancing together! Jane Austen never has her characters waltz. In fact, the key dance scenes in an Austen novel occur when the couple stands opposite each other, waiting their turn to dance up the set. When Mrs. Weston begins playing an “irresistible waltz” at the Coles' dinner party in
Emma,
the music serves only to establish a rhythm for a country dance (2:8).
While the English Country Dance became the most popular dance form in Austen's day, people also had to know the steps and movements for other dances, including
A minuet:
If people were going to a very formal assembly, the first dance would likely be a minuet, dating from the early 18th century â a slow, stately dance with little steps.
The quadrille:
A popular dance was the
quadrille
â a five-part dance for four couples standing in a square.
The cotillion:
This was a lively dance usually performed by four couples and including the tiny, dainty minuet steps from the minuet. Dancers also sometimes clapped their hands while doing the
cotillion
.
A Scottish reel:
An impromptu dance at home, as well as a dance at a ball, might include the quick-stepping, lively Scottish reel, a folk dance with gliding steps and jumps.
The dance floor was the perfect place to observe the good manners that characterized Austen's England. But while these elements are wonderful to practice, they sometimes made courting on the dance floor a little difficult.
Because dancing was a communal activity, certain rules enhanced the feeling of community. Check out the following examples of proper dancing etiquette:
Rescue the wallflowers:
While dances usually had more young women than young men present, the gentlemen were expected to ask the young ladies who were seated without a partner to dance. Failing to do this was ungentlemanly and went against the community. Missing these moments in Jane Austen's novels is also to miss the first of the “do's and don'ts” of ballroom etiquette: Gentlemen should ask seated young ladies without partners to dance.
â¢
The good example:
Emma
's Mr. Knightley is ever the gentleman. Although he has been standing with the older men while others are dancing, he immediately steps forward and asks Harriet Smith â”the only young lady sitting down” â to dance (3:2).
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The bad example:
When at the Meryton Assembly, Darcy, “catching [the] eye” of Elizabeth Bennet, who “had been obliged, by the scarcity of gentlemen, to sit down for two dances,” turns back to Bingley and says he is “âin no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.'” He behaves badly in two ways (PP 1:3). Obviously, he deliberately insults Elizabeth, making sure she hears him, but he also sees a young lady who is sitting out two dances for lack of a partner and does nothing about it.
Respect one's partner and don't bother another man's partner:
Another rule of community is the attentiveness of the partners to each other while dancing. Even while in the “standing and waiting to dance” part of a country dance, partners are supposed to pay attention to each other.
â¢
The good example:
When, in
Pride and Prejudice,
Darcy and Elizabeth dance together for the first time at the Netherfield Assembly, they converse only with each other, and she tells him that she is “âtrying to make . . . out'” his character. When they part after their dance ends, Darcy feels “a tolerable powerful feeling towards” Elizabeth (PP 1:18). He is well on the road to love!
â¢
The bad example:
In
Northanger Abbey
(1:10), Henry Tilney solicits Catherine Morland for a dance. No sooner has the couple found their way into the dance set when John Thorpe arrives and stations himself behind Catherine, badgering her for a dance.
Show up for the dance you requested:
Respect and attentiveness for one's partner also includes the gentleman showing up for the dance he asked for.
â¢
The good example:
At the Netherfield Assembly, Darcy asks Elizabeth to dance, and returns promptly when the dance begins “to claim her hand” (PP 1:18).
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The bad example:
John Thorpe engages Catherine prior to the ball for the first two dances, but when the music begins, he is nowhere in sight (NA 1:8).
Decline a gentleman's invitation to dance with grace:
The only way a lady could politely decline an invitation to dance â if she was not already pre-engaged for the dance by another partner â was to claim tiredness or indisposition, which meant that she could not dance with another partner later in the evening.
â¢
The good example:
When John Thorpe, having stood Catherine up for the first two dances for which he had engaged her, returns and asks to dance again, she thanks him and says that “âour two dances are over [as in, he failed to show up for them!]; and besides, I am tired, and do not mean to dance any more'” (NA 1: 8). While Catherine probably would have loved to dance with any other partner, she does not dance again.
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The bad example:
When James Morland leaves Bath, his fiancée Isabella Thorpe, declares â insists, even â that she will not dance while he is away. But she not only goes to the dance, but dances with Captain Tilney (NA 2:1)
Adhere to the two-dance rule:
A couple was expected not to dance with each other more than twice. The idea was to spread out among the crowd in order to meet and dance with other people to get to know the group. Indeed, dancing more than twice with the same partner was viewed as a serious interest in matrimony!
â¢
The good example:
In
Pride
and Prejudice,
Mrs. Bennet, with the marriages of her daughters always on her mind, is thrilled that Bingley has asked Jane for two dances, a sure sign of his romantic interest in her.
â¢
The bad example:
Marianne and Willoughby's being “partners for half the time” of an impromptu ball at Barton leads people to suspect an engagement or at least a pending engagement between them (SS 1:11). They are
not
engaged nor have they planned
an engagement.
