A very beginner-friendly dance featuring not-too-complicated country dances from Jane Austen's lifetime and beyond.
Band: Divertimento with James Langdell
Divertimento under the direction of James Langdell, usually featuring some or all of William Allen, Paul Kostka, Bill Langdell, Jeanette Langdell. Strong players who can sight-read are welcome to sit in!
BACDS and The Bay Area English Regency Society (BAERS) co-sponsor second Friday Regency dance parties. Strictly speaking, the Regency is the period from 1811-1820 when George III was too sick to rule and Parliament authorized his wastrel son (later George IV) as Prince Regent. This is the era of the Napoleonic Wars, the Romantic poets, composers like Beethoven, and the years when the novels of Jane Austen were published. These focus on accessible dances with some connection to Jane Austen's lifetime (1778 - 1816), extending to the end of the Regency (1820), sometimes using American dances of the same period, which allows for longways (duple and triple) minors, three and four couple sets, and we'll do two-couple dances (which are out of period) if that's how many people are there at the start, so we will start on time. We dance in the spirit of the Regency era, but usually in modern Englsh style. Because the waltz becomes popular in England in our period, we usually have waltz country dances and several free waltzes, and occasionally some choreographed waltz couple dances. The famous "Congress of Vienna" dance was invented for Regency dancing. This is an excellent series for new dancers and people wanting to acquire fluency in country dance. These second-Friday dance parties are casual-dress events. BAERS also sponsors several balls a year with historical themes (see BAERS website, above) where we encourage historical, formal, or festive dress but don't require it.
Alan Winston is the series programmer and the most frequent leader for the dance parties, but other callers who share with Alan both an interest in the period and skill in teaching beginners sometimes share the evening or take the whole evening. On rare occasions we repurpose the second-Friday evening to take advantage of visiting world-class talent, so our second-Friday dance parties have been called by Andrew Shaw, Graham Christian, and others.
The house band, Divertimento, is usually led by BAERS Music Director James Langdell, with William Allen on piano, Paul Kostka on whistles and other instruments, Jeannette Langdell on flutes, Bill Langdell on horns, and welcomes sit-ins from strong players who can sight-read. Band and caller are all acoustic.
We do not have a beginner lesson. We welcome newcomers by taking care to establish basic concepts in the earlier dances and building on them later in the evening. It's a very good idea to come on time.
More-experienced dancers will be happy to partner with you.
The entrance to the St. Mark's compound (sanctuary, social hall, and rectory) is fairly inconspicuous, on the South side of Colorado, mid-block, about a block and half West of Middlefield Road in mid-town, far from the train station but close to a bus route. There's a very big parking lot which isn't visible from the street. The dance is usually in the Social Hall (good acoustics and lighting, excellent floor), but is occasionally displaced into the Sanctuary (fantastic acoustics, dramatic lighting, linoleum-over-wood floor). We take August and December off.
Second Fridays - January-July, September-November
Regular location: St. Mark's Episcopal, Palo Alto