Vintage Dance Parties
Part of the social life of the Victorian era was the formal “Ball” sponsored by various organizations representing every aspect of daily life. Balls were sponsored by doctors, architects, mountain climbers, police agents, men's singing clubs, railroad switchmen, just to name a few. Just about any group of citizens could sponsor a ball. For many organizations, the annual Ball was the high point of the year. The Bay Area keeps the Grand Victorian Ball alive through organizations that specialize in authentic Vintage dance parties. Par-taking in nineteenth century dances, accompanied by period music, these organizations recapture the manners, pleasures, and spirit of the Victorian era.
The Bay Area English Regency Society (BAERS)
The Bay Area English Regency Society (BAERS) is Palo Alto’s offshoot of Los Angeles-based Friends of the English Regency. BAERS explores all aspects of life among the different social classes in the early nineteenth century Regency period, and occasionally ventures into the American Federalist era. BAERS specializes in dances from English Country tradition, a style of dance that dates back to as early as 1600 in one form or another, but assumed its fundamental form, somewhat like a square dance, in the nineteenth century. The dances come from Regency-era dance manuals such as Thomas Wilson, and from occasional modern Choreography done in the manner of the time. They are set to traditional country-dance tunes, or to music by classical composers such as Mozart, Schubert, and Beethoven. BAERS organizes three to four balls annually, featuring music by the four-piece Divertimento Dance Orchestra. BAERS also offers second-Friday dance parties, picnics and other activities.
The Period Events and Entertainment Re-Creation Society, Inc. (PEERS)
The Period Events and Entertainment Re-Creation Society, Inc. (PEERS) is a San Mateo organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the performing arts of historical periods of the past. PEERS produces and sponsors re-creations of historical works, original works, and new works of dance, music and theater with an emphasis on audience interaction; sponsors and supports artists and researchers involved in the performing arts of the past; provides instruction to the general public to increase appreciation of these arts in their historic context; and conducts research into the performing arts, and their role in history and literature. PEERS offers dance instruction and dance practices, and sponsors 10 balls a year. PEERS assists in historic events run by other groups, and co-sponsors the monthly Pomander Club vintage dances.
The Pomander Club is a Vintage dance group featuring social dances of the nineteenth century, Ragtime Era, and through the Twenties. The Pomander Club emphasizes the style of Vintage dance as it was danced in informal to formal social dance settings, as danced by ordinary people, not performers. As compared to modern International Ballroom dance, the style is less prescribed, more relaxed, and more varied from individual to individual. On the fourth Friday of each month, the Pomander Club holds a ball in Palo Alto with live music by Paul Price’s Society Orchestra, a local Orchestra that specializes in 1900’s to 1930’s music. Classes are held every Monday; each month, a particular dance and its variations are taught, the first Monday is a “beginning” class and the subsequent Mondays build on the teaching of the previous Mondays.
Ye Gaskell Occasional Dance Society
Ye Gaskell Occasional Dance Society has been sponsoring Victorian Ballroom dances for over 20 years. The Society holds bimonthly balls, in Oakland, featuring historically accurate music provided by The Brassworks from San Francisco, a group of five brass horns and a drummer led by Frank Davis. The October event is a costume ball. The balls feature Victorian waltzes, polkas, schottiches, mazurkas, and set dances such as the Sir Roger de Coverley and the Congress of Vienna. The format of the balls is three 40 minute and one 30 minute sessions of live music, with three 20 minute breaks, and occasional entertainment during the breaks. A dance workshop precedes each ball.
What to Wear
At Bay Area Victorian balls, many dancers enhance the “period feel” by adopting the costume of the era. Most events do not require period dress, but do require semi-formal or formal attire and men should generally wear a jacket to Vintage dance parties. Victorian evening dress was a delicate and complicated matter for ladies and for gentlemen. In addition to the organizations around the Bay Area that offer opportunities to recreate the authentic ball, there are also great opportunities for vintage fashion aficionados to find the perfect outfit to wear to the ball!