Vintage dance is the authentic recreation of historical
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
styles.
Vintage dancing styles include
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
,
swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing ri ...
,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...
,
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...
, and
breakdancing
Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in t ...
.
Societies
Several vintage dance societies hold balls and events to promote and teach vintage dances.
Connecticut
* Hartford Underground is a vintage swing dance society in the greater Hartford area.
* The community dance hall Vinnie's Jump & Jive in Middletown frequently hosts swing and blues dance nights.
*
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
Swing, Blues, and Fusion is a "noncompetitive swing and blues dancing community" on Yale University's campus. Their "regular events include monthly swing dances, weekly swing, blues, and fusion practica on Sundays, weekly fusion practica on Tuesdays, and trips to local dancing events." They "offer Lindy Hop and Blues lessons every semester, for a nominal fee, and invite guest instructors for dance workshops at various points throughout the year. Their "events are open to everyone – undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff, and members of the broader New Haven community."
Massachusetts
* The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers have been active for more than 26 years and sponsor monthly vintage Victorian dance classes and balls throughout the greater Boston area. Every summer, the group gathers in Newport, Rhode Island, for week-long dance training, seaside teas, and evenings enjoying the splendors of the Gilded Age.
California
*
The Gaskell Ball is a long-running bimonthly Victorian Ball held in Oakland, California.
* The Period Events and Entertainments Reenactment Society holds themed vintage dance events of various eras on the first Saturday of each month.
* The Bay Area Country Dance Society promotes, preserves, and teaches traditional English and American music and dance in the San Francisco Bay area.
* The Bay Area English Regency Society, another group in the San Francisco Bay area, specializes in the dances of the
English Regency
The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 1810 and, by the Regency Act 1811, h ...
.
Colorado
* American Vernacular Dance hosts ragtime-era vintage dance events with live music, principally at the Avalon Ballroom in Boulder, Colorado. This organization hosted its first event "The Columbine Ball and Tango Trot", in June 1989. It has hosted ragtime-era tea dances monthly since 1991 with the Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra. It co-hosts annual dance weekends with vintage dance historian and dancing master Richard Powers.
* Watch Your Step! is a Boulder, Colorado-based group available for presentations, costumed performances, and instruction in vintage dance of the ragtime era through the 1930s.
New Jersey
*The Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities, a nonprofit organization committed to preservation, interpretation, and cultural enrichment for Cape May's residents and visitors, has been sponsoring vintage dance weekends in Cape May for more than 20 years. Held each April and October, these weekends provide instruction and costume dance opportunities with live music. Cape May is a National Historic landmark city at the southernmost tip of New Jersey with an unparalleled collection of Victorian-era homes.
North Carolina
*Since 2001, Triangle Vintage Dance has offered classes focusing on dances from the Victorian and ragtime eras for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. In addition to classes and a monthly dance mixer, the group also holds an annual Victorian Ball.
Ohio
>Flying Cloud Academy of Vintage Dance> in Cincinnati Ohio, is dedicated to the preservation, performance, and teaching of historic ballroom dance and music. The group creates and maintains a thriving vintage dance community, which provides opportunities for dancers at all levels to enjoy authentic historic dance and other related traditions. They share the love of dance through classes, performances, and the recreation of elegant evenings of dancing in period settings.
References
External links
Hartford UndergroundVinnie's Jump & JiveYale Swing, Blues, and FusionCommonwealth Vintage DancersVintage Dancing in AustraliaAmerican Vernacular DanceYe Gaskell Occasional Dance Society - The Gaskell BallMid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & HumanitiesTriangle Vintage DanceVintage Dance Colorado
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Historical dance