Since the time of Peter I, balls have been not just dances, but a kind of ceremonial - around the emperor, ruler, subjects circled, emphasizing the unity of the ruler with his people. Later, balls were organized not only by kings, but also by wealthy aristocrats. Girls of marriageable age were taken to balls to marry. Older people met at the balls to admire young people and discuss matters. Times have changed, some ballroom dancing gave way to others. So, when and how did our ancestors dance?
You will need
To feel yourself at the ball of previous years, it is enough to learn how to dance a waltz - the most beloved and popular dance since the 19th century. In addition, you can try to dance a Mazurka, a minuet and a polonaise.
Instruction manual
1
In order to imagine the ball of past years, you should know that initially, in the seventeenth century, the theme of counter-dances was popular. But it was so long ago that few people (even from experts) can recreate such dances with maximum accuracy. A century later, in the 18th century, Baroque became fashionable - both in art as a whole and in dance. You can get an idea of the balls at the court of Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine the Great through historical films. These ballroom dances were technically difficult, and our contemporaries are unlikely to be able to master them (with all desire) with all the nuances.
2
Balls of the nineteenth century are much closer and more accessible for us - beloved by many waltz already danced on them, though since then it has changed a little. Waltz was accompanied by polka, mazurka, quadrille. At the balls, including school ones (in gymnasiums), a steward was necessarily present - a kind of ball conductor, which should be obeyed. At the ball, one should adhere to the etiquette that was inherited by modern balls, which take place in the noble assemblies. If this is not a masquerade, then the gentleman invites only the lady with whom he is familiar or whom he has just been introduced to. With the same partner in one evening you can dance no more than two dances. The lady whom the gentleman invites to the dance may refuse him if the dance is already promised. If the cavalier liked the lady who is in the company of another, before inviting the dance, one should ask his consent.
3
During ceremonial dances (a minuet or polonaise), you should get up already behind the standing couples. The distance between the pairs is about a meter. In dance, the cavalier leads a lady, if there was an awkward encounter with other dancers, it is the partner, not the partner, who answers and apologizes. Dancers keep straight, look at each other, have a light conversation - they can exchange remarks. After the dance is over, the gentleman takes his lady to the place where she was before the invitation and says goodbye to a polite bow to which the lady answers with grace appropriate for the atmosphere.
note
19th century writers paid a lot of attention to balls. The balls in Leo Tolstoy’s novels “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, the novel by Alexander Pushkin “The Arap of Peter the Great”, the novel by Mikhail Lermontov “The Hero of Our Time” are excellently described.
Useful advice
If you want to get a more complete picture of what you danced at balls of the past, you will probably be interested in descriptions of dances such as Hungarian, Krakowyak, Padepatiner, Padespan, Padekatr. Information about them can be found in fiction and special literature.
