Not ball room dancing, but the dances they would do at balls a long time ago.
2006-06-25 14:16:32 · 6 answers · asked by dramamama 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Dancing
Etiquette books! Old etiquette books. :)
I have a link to where the Library of Congress has imaged them... most of them are in PDF format.
There are also many fun things in there (some of them QUITE GROSS) about personal hygene. :)
2006-06-26 05:37:32 · answer #1 · answered by fallenangel 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The dances they would do at balls a along time ago were ball room dances -- unless you are talking about dances they would do a couple of hundred years ago, like the French Minuet, and the Gavotte, the Pavanne and that sort of thing.
If it's the real old timers you want, there are books that give descriptions of the dances, but it's very difficult to learn from the written descriptions. They are not scored for choreography, and there are no videos or motion pictures recording them. Many of the dances you see in historical movies today, have been choreographed by someone to look like 'period pieces' but in fact, they are no such thing.
Good luck with your search!
2006-06-25 15:51:15 · answer #2 · answered by old lady 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You might want to start out by finding a dance school that teaches old-time or classical sequence dancing (old-time is now called classical). That would start you off learning things like the two-steps, gavottes, saunters, some of the blues like the Balmoral, and some of the waltzes like the Lilac and Valeta.
You can also find online sites that sell DVDs and videos that teach some of these dances. Try the site below, and search under Instruction for DVDs and Videos. You will find a DVD entitled Introduction to Old-Time Dancing, with Ted and Sue Burroughs.
These may not be the very historical dances you are craving, but they would start you off in the right direction by learning some of the techniques and styles of these dances.
2006-06-26 07:18:37 · answer #3 · answered by aliantha2004 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Almost any dance studio or YMCA if you want to save money has ballroom dancing. Ballroom today is much the same as a long time ago. Some dances are different though and if you go to historical musemums on special nights or days they sometimes teach the authentic dance stylings of like the colonial times.
2006-06-26 05:13:10 · answer #4 · answered by girlygirl2000 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
check local dance studios, they might have a program for ballroom dancing.
2006-06-25 14:21:46 · answer #5 · answered by live and let dai 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Search on yahoo or google.
2006-06-25 14:20:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anry 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋