Novelista Annie Burrows
writes historical romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon. This month she shares how a bout of research has
been triggered by Strictly Come Dancing!
I absolutely love the
celebrity challenge show, Strictly Come Dancing, particularly because I'm a
keen amateur ballroom dancer myself. As
this season's opening show ended with a beautiful, glamorous waltz, it set me
wondering...just why was this dance considered so outrageous in Regency times?
Today, we think of the waltz
as rather romantic, but a bit staid. But
when it first came to England, it even shocked the notorious Lord Byron.
So, I got searching...
During the Regency era, most
of the dances were rather like our country dances. If you've ever been to a barn dance, you
would have been at home in a Regency ballroom.
People lined up to dance in sets of four or eight, and the figures
performed would be shouted out by a caller.
Even though you would have a partner, you wouldn't be in any sort of
hold with him, except for short bursts.
But the waltz was very, very
different.
The next was the
"Sauteuse." At this point, the
dance got a bit more energetic, with dancers working a little hop into the
step. The hold would also change - one
possible option would be the man holding both the lady's hands behind her back.
The routine would finish with
the "Jetté", which was even more energetic. But even so, the partners would be in bodily
contact with each other the entire time.
And because the only floorcraft required was keeping one's place in a
circle of others, all moving in slow progression round the room, there was no
need for the man to take his eyes off his partner to watch where he was going.
And Lord Byron's objection? The hands could rest on any number of body areas, and linger...
Let's face it, the Regency
waltz was the equivalent of the slow smooch at the end of the disco...
Annie's latest story, in an anthology called "A Scandalous Regency Christmas" will be available from 8th October from Amazon UK
