The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #164259   Message #3928998
Posted By: Raedwulf
03-Jun-18 - 03:33 PM
Thread Name: country dances for Armistice WW1
Subject: RE: country dances for Armistice WW1
Which is hardly "ballroom", Keith. Any verifiably Victorian dance is probably fine, Sarah. I'm no sort of dance expert (WWI, maybe!), but fashions tend to change slowly in the lower strata of society. Folk (I use the word deliberately) will continue to play, sing, and dance what's been enjoyed for decades & centuries. So whilst some of the dances would have been what was in vogue at the time, because we all like to ape our "betterers" ;-) , a lot of what was danced would still have been 'country', not posh stuff.

A lot of the dances would have been the same jigs & brawls & whatnot that had been popular for countless decades, vice the quoted passage about old-fashioned waltzes, and polkas & quadrilles (which may have been dying out, but were obviously still "on the go"!). The biggest problem you will face is that the older dances will likely not have been considered worthy of recording, so if you get specific mentions of dances, those will be in the "etcetera", if you see what I mean. Should someone be able to find a scan of a dance card, I suspect that will have been something very formal & organised... And therefore not terribly representative of the average. Again, if you see what I mean.

I've had a brief scoot around to see what I can find. the links below may (or may not) be of interest / assistance. Good luck! :)

Brief clip of soldiers dancing together, the type of dance might be recognisable


This lot look like they might be worth investigating / contacting!

And just for the hell of it, A Canadian documentary that may (or may not) have something to do with dance!