The Duchess of Richmond's Ball 2015

I have some very exciting news to share - I will be going to Belgium to participate in the bicentennial events for the Battle of Waterloo in June! Now, of course, before the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, soldiers and civilians mingled in the Duchess of Richmond's ballroom off the Rue de la Blanchisserie in Brussels on June 15, 1815. 200 years later, that "most famous ball in history," as described by historian Elizabeth Longford, is going to be recreated on June 17, 2015! I am so excited to attend!

On the Facebook group page for the event, some dances for the evening have been posted by dancing master Lieven Baert. Here is the dance list so far:

4th set of Quadrilles (c. 1815): Paine of Almack's
Brussels Waltz (1815/1818): Thomas Wilson's Le Sylphe
Russian Waltz (1815): Thomas Wilson
Duke of Wellington Waltz (1815): Thomas Wilson's Le Sylphe
Leamington Dance (1811): Wheatstone
The Triumph (1816): Thomas Wilson
3 Anglaises (1814): Almanach Geselligen Vernügen
3 Ecossaises (1815): Almanach Geselligen Vernügen
Quadrille 1 (1815): Almanach Geselligen Vernügen
Polonaise: music from Pamer
Opera Reel (1816): Thomas Wilson
Reel for 5: Thomas Wilson

Since a group of Regency dancers from Canada will be attending this event, we are doing a bit of preparation before crossing the Atlantic. I will be posting some of my research for these dances over the next few days to help me, and any other ball-goers, prepare for this unforgettable event!

To start with some basics in Regency dance, I've included a link to Thomas Wilson's 1811 publication: "An analysis of country dancing, wherein all the figures used in that polite amusement are rendered familiar by engraved lines. Containing also, directions for composing almost any number of figures to one tune, with some entire new reels; together with the complete etiquette of the ball-room." (I know, it's a long title!)

This publication is really interesting because it includes some diagrams of figures used in Regency dancing, such as a "chase" figure and a "promenade".

Hopefully this resource will be helpful for other Regency dancers and ball attendees to learn some figures that will be used at the ball!

I have also included a tutorial video on how to do a jeté assemblé, which I use to finish figures cleanly (ie. a figure 8 = 7 bars of skip change + 1 jeté assemblé).

The first dance I will be looking at in this series is called the "Leamington Dance", published in Wheatstone's publication of dances for 1811. Each figure will be described in bold, with diagrams from Wilson's Analysis of Country Dancing below to illustrate. The letters (ie. A1, A2, B1 etc.) refer to the strain of music being played.

This tune can be found on the "Dance & Danceability" CD by The Assembly Players for anyone interested!

Here are the figures, according to the "Dance & Danceability" leaflet provided:

Leamington Dance 

A1: 1st and 2nd couple right-hand star all the way around; 2 changes of rights and lefts. (16 beats/8 bars)

** I have included 2 versions of "changes of rights and lefts" used in English Country Dancing. The chain figure seems to be more commonly used, while the other "right and left" was used more by Thomas Wilson.

A2: Left-hand star all the way around; 2 changes of rights and lefts back to place. (16 beats/8 bars)

B: 1^st couple lead down the middle, skip back and cast into 2^nd position. (16 beats/8 bars)

A3: Pousette with the top 2 couples once around (1^st man pushing, 2^nd man pulling). (16 beats/8 bars)

** This diagram shows the pousette starting from 1st position, but can be done from 2nd position, as performed in Leamington Dance.

That's all for now - until next time... Happy dancing!