Dancing Through the Ages and Adaptations of Jane Austen

What kind of person are you at a dance? Are you more like Lydia, who loves to dance and be the center of attention? Or are you more like Mr. Darcy, who sticks to the walls and maybe eats a few refreshments. Or are you somewhere in between?

No matter what, the likelihood of you dancing or at least watching someone else dance semi-often in your life is fairly high. Although we may now only do the current popular Tik Tok dance or stream Dirty Dancing (or some other film) to watch the professionals, dance remains prominent in our daily lives.

During Jane Austen’s time, dance was a very popular pastime and form of entertainment. Both community and private balls were an excellent opportunity to mingle with people (and start a romance) and exercise.

As you watch the show you may notice the dancing isn’t always the calm dancing you see in the films, or even historically accurate. You may also notice some tunes that were written well after the Regency Period. Melanie Cartwright, the choreographer, incorporated dances such as waltz, quadrille, contra, polka, and even line dancing! Stephanie Brienholt, the director, wanted to subtly incorporate both old and new concepts, trends, re-interpretations and adaptations in our re-telling of Pride and Prejudice. Like a palimpsest (typically a document that has many layers and levels of writing that’s been added to and built upon) Pride and Prejudice has had so many editions and adaptations which our production builds upon.

Learn a Contra! Jacob Hall’s Jig is a contra dance from England circa 1695. This fun, lively dance was probably performed and participated in at many parties and dances during this time and probably even during Jane Austen’s life. I had the opportunity to teach the actors this dance to help them understand the dancing of Austen’s lifetime. Oftentimes we picture the slow contra dances with couples having conversations and staring deep into each other’s souls, such as what we see in many classic adaptations of Pride and Prejudice. However, Jacob Hall’s Jig isn’t the same. The music is lively and the steps are quick, showing the versatility of the types of dance and music that existed before and during Austen’s life.

Background Information to know before you start:

Types of Sets:

M: Man

W: Woman

Terminology:

CCW: Counterclockwise (also known as Line of Dance or LOD)

CW: Clockwise (also known as Reverse Line of Dance or RLOD)

World: The group of two couples that do the dance together as 1st and 2nd couples

Jacob Hall’s Jig

Formation: Longways Proper Set, Duple Minor (2 couples)

To help with any confusion here are some slides breaking down each of the steps to help you work through it. Here

Music:

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Section

	Measure	Pattern
A1	1-4	1st Man takes 2nd Woman by right hand and goes around once CW
A1	5-8	2nd woman switches to take left hand of 1st man opening up so 1st Woman can grab right hand with 1st Man and left with 2nd Women. Circle once, CW, then everyone goes home.
A2	1-4	2nd Man takes 1st Woman by left hand and goes around once CCW.
A2	5-8	Switch hands opening up so 2nd Woman can grab right hand with 1st woman and left with 2nd Man. Circle once, CCW, then everyone go home.
B1	1-4	1st First couple grab hands (W: Right, M: Left) walking down the set, in the middle, between and past the 2nd couple. Then they change hands, turning in towards each other and grab other hands walking back. Stopping between couple 2.
B1	5-8	All four take hands walking up the set for 4 counts Everyone walks back for 4 counts, ends start to come in towards each other to close off the circle. (Everyone facing Center)
B2	1-4	They all circle CW until they end up where they started this new circle. 2nd Couple should now be where the first couple started at the head.
B2	5-8	1st leads up the set back through the 2nd couple, this time they cast off, pushing away and walking away from their partner and circling around the outside of the 2nd couple. Coming into the 2nd couple’s original spot.

Repeat down the line. 1st will now be with a new 2nd couple and the original 2nd on the very end will get a break. After your break on either end, you come back in as the other couple until music ends.

Tags

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="376"] Margaret Roper[/caption] Margaret More Roper: Scholar and Daughter by Adam White, dramaturg Thomas More was a family man; he was married twice and had four children with his first wife, Jane Colt. After being married for six years, Jane Colt More died, leaving More with four children: Margaret, Elizabeth, Cecily and John. However, More quickly remarried to the widow Dame Alice Middleton, marrying her within a month of his wife’s death. While many of his friends resisted the rapid nature of the arrangement, More went through with it. Thomas and Alice More would raise the four children Thomas More had with Jane, as well as Alice’s daughter from her previous marriage and a foster daughter. Certainly, More valued his family and the welfare of his children. More also valued the power of education. He insisted that his daughters be educated through rigorous schooling, and this was unusual in 16th-century England, as society at large believed women unfit for scholarly pursuits. Despite cultural and institutional norms, Margaret More, the eldest of the More children (and More’s favorite, some would argue), would grow to become one of the most educated people in all of England, a woman of great scholarly knowledge. Margaret More Roper was tutored at home and became well-known for her studies, particularly for her adeptness in Greek and Latin. Her skill in writing and speaking Latin would impress the clergy of England. This specialty is reflected in a scene in Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons where Margaret and King Henry VIII engage in a bit of Latin language sparring. She would also become the first woman who was not of royal birth to publish a translated book. In October 1524, Roper published an English translation of a book called ‘Precatio dominica’ written by Thomas More’s good friend Erasmus. This book was based on the Lord’s Prayer. Instead of translating the book directly from Latin to English, Roper would use her extensive knowledge of both languages to construct the themes and the meanings Erasmus had written in to the treatise with her own words. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="291"] Erasmus, Dutch humanist and good friend to Thomas More[/caption] It was Margaret who would visit the imprisoned Thomas More the most often. They were very close, writing letters to one another regularly the duration of their relationship. It was in a letter to Margaret that Thomas More confided, “I do nobody harm, I say none harm, I thinke none harm, but wish everybody good. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live.” We have good reason to believe that Margaret More Roper very well understood what would be her father’s fate. After Thomas More’s execution, Margaret More Roper and her husband William Roper would continue to carry on his legacy in their own ways. William Roper would write the first biography of Thomas More, a glowing and gracious document that would influence our understanding of More’s personality for hundreds of years to come. Margaret More Roper actually kept her father’s head after his beheading, pickling it to preserve it from decay. While many of us may find that historical tidbit a tad macabre, I would like to believe that Margaret More Roper had deep admiration for her father; perhaps it was out of this feeling she kept his head. Please stay tuned to the 4th Wall Dramaturgy Blog to catch clips of my interview with Mallory Gee, the actress who will portray Margaret More Roper in BYU’s A Man for All Seasons. Bibliography: Abernathy, Susan. "Margaret Roper, Daughter of Sir Thomas More." Early Modern England. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. Duerden, Richard. "A Man for All Seasons." Telephone interview. 31 Jan. 2014. "Margaret Roper." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2013. "Sir Thomas More Quotes and Quotations." Sir Thomas More Quotes and Quotations. Luminarium. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

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Dancing Through the Ages and Adaptations of Jane Austen

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