Tags
Bill Hayley and the Comets, Byron, Child Harold's Pilgrimage, Jitter Bug, Pride and Prejudice, Rock and Roll
I could dance virtually as soon as I could walk because, despite the ‘Jitter Bug’ that came to Britain with the American GI’s in World War II, and Bill Hayley and the Comets in the fifties; the birth of Rock and Roll, the local dance in village and town with all age groups welcome, still meant that country dances would be included in the programme as well as the Waltz, Quick Step and Fox Trot. You only saw the Tango and the Samba at the pictures, that is the cinema, Fred Astair and Ginger Rodgers, Carmen Miranda and Betty Grable. Though I couldn’t speak for London.
We were still taught country dancing in school as part of our PE classes, there were no wall flowers in those days everybody danced whatever your build, clumsy or dainty, you danced, and we had fun I don’t remember glum faces. Each had a partner and as we formed the sets, usually three or four pairs, you didn’t have time to be self-conscious and if you didn’t like your partner you would probably be separated in the parade, carrousel, chain or promenade as the movements progressed around the hall. In the summer we would dance in the playground, on rainy days and in the winter in the Hall. It kept us fit! A single dance could last 30 minutes and they were generally fast paced and included both graceful and energetic steps and movements; some even had words that we would sing along as we danced.
Now the fiddler’s ready, let us all begin
So step it out and step it in
To the merry music of the violin
We’ll dance the hours away.
Katie and Peggy and Patrick and Paul,
Callum and Peter and Flora and Moll,
Dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing,
dance away the hours together!
Dance till dawn is in the sky,
What care you and what care I?
Hearts a-beating, spirits high,
We’ll dance, dance, dance!*
I even remember the tune.
At school the music was on 78rpm acetate in the village halls probably a quartet, accordion, drums, double bass, violin or sometimes a banjo whilst on special occasions, like Burn’s night, Harvest Supper or New Years Eve, you might have a full-blown band with a conductor. And we would travel to other villages for a dance or to hear a particular band. The tunes were richly mellow and inviting and as soon as the first chord was sounded we would address our partner with a bow or a curtsy and off we would step joyfully into the dance. Even those who didn’t like sport enjoyed dancing, they might forget their PE kit but they never forgot their dancing shoes. In this way girls and boys didn’t have that silly awkwardness that seemed to happen with some kids when they hit their teens because, you knew everyone in your year and often in the year below and above. The local dance was also a pivotal event in knitting together family and community, and many an enduring friendship and lasting romance started at the village dance.
Some of the dances were hundreds of years old their titles marched through history, with the Bishop of Chester’s Jig, The Gay Gordon’s*, the Durham Reel, Cumberland Square Eight, Circassian Circle, Dashing White Sergeant*, Military Two Step, Three Drops of Brandy and the Highland Reel. Dances that had been on the programme of the Duchess of Richmond’s Ball on the eve of Waterloo still survived well into the late 1960’s. Byron described it thus,
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet— *
I remember going to a wedding in 1968 where the evening party included country dancing and it went on well into the early hours.
The advent of dating sites and speed dating, the plethora of which prompted this blog, are not a new thing, there have always been matchmakers, but the modern versions lack style and fun and in this age of instant communication seem so lacking in communication and really remind you of a cattle market or lottery and certainly there appears little of the romantic, or am I being old fashioned? There have always been arranged marriages Samson’s parent arranged for him to marry Delilah and I am sure there were earlier couplings than that. It’s been the prerogative of King’s, Henry VIII was persuaded to marry Anne of Cleves because he saw a painting of her by Hans Holbein the younger. Through millennia, it’s interwoven with folk-lore, think of the Arabian nights and Scheherazade.
In the Regency and the Victorian eras Austin, the Bronte’s, Thackeray, Hardy, and Dickens all used the intricacies of the dance to show off the physical charms and advance the relationship of, their protagonists. Though Mr Darcy was initially quite scathing even he would succumb. The finding of a suitable wife or husband was even termed the Marriage Mart, Jane Austin’s opening sentence in Pride and Prejudice is:
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’
Modern writers and film-makers often use dance to add some movement and colour to their works: Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice, Far From the Madding Crowd, Four Weddings and a Funeral, to mention just a few. I’ve used this device myself in my latest novel ‘Charlotte Deanfield – of a finer ruth.’
As a teenager I didn’t really notice when the jive or the twist finally edged out the country dances, or when Jim Reeves’ songs heralded the last dance. I know that the village dances dwindled as young people got more mobile and headed for the towns for their entertainment, did we have as much fun? I’m not sure we did and there isn’t enough money in the world that could persuade me to be a teenager again.
* The Gordon Highlanders 92nd Regiment of Foot
* The regimental march for the Berkshire Regiment, they wore white uniforms.
* Byron. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third. Stanza 22
‘Charlotte Deanfield – of a finer ruth.’ Amazon.co.uk on Kindle and in paper back is doing well. Dear readers if you have read it please do a review on the Amazon website, this really helps to encourage other people to read it also. I’m hoping of course that you enjoyed it.