Cordancia Dances

"Five positions of dancing Wilson 1811" by T. Wilson (1)

Cordancia Dances with the Meryton Assembly Dancers

The Meryton Assembly Dancers will be performing this weekend with the Cordancia Chamber Orchestra at the Cordancia Dances Concert. The Orchestra is one of the finest ensembles in the area featuring talented musicians playing a diverse repetoire of music. The concert will be held at Cutler Union at the Memorial Art Gallery April 19^th starting at 2:45 pm and will include music inspired by dance.

The program begins with the Meryton Assembly Dancers performing dances related to Jane Austen’s era. After a grand procession to the tune of Mr. Isaacs Maggot the group will perform the Duke of Kent Waltz. This dance dates from the first years of the 19^th century during the Regency Period. The dancers will then perform Mr. Beveridge’s Maggot. While dating from an earlier period, this dance will always be associated with Jane Austen, because it was performed in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.

The Meryton Assembly Dancers represent the Country Dance Rochester organization and consist of a group of people dedicated to spreading the joy of English Country Dance. Several Janeites contribute their elegance and style to the group.

ECD is often associated with Jane Austen as Jane Austen used balls in most of her novels to advance the themes. Jane Austen herself loved to dance. However, ECD is both much older and much younger than the Regency. The dance form goes back to the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is well documented from about 1650 onward in the series The Dancing Master published by John Playford and his successors from 1651 until 1728. Mr. B’s Maggot is a Playford dance and so would have been an old dance in Jane Austen’s time.

Brocket Hall used to film the Netherfield ballroom scene in the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice (2)

English Country Dance became less popular with the advent of the couples waltz at the end of the Regency period. However, the dance form was revived when Cecil  Sharp founded the English Folk Dance Society in 1911. Today several artists continue to compose and arrange dances in the style of English Country Dance while groups such as Country Dance Rochester meet all over the world to enjoy this very sociable activity. Come hear Cordancia Dances and experience the charm of English Country Dance.

Event: Cordancia Dances

When: April 19 2:45 pm

Where: Cutler Union Memorial Art Gallery

Info: http://www.cordancia.org/#!events/c10fk

1. Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/musdi/171/0006.jpg as edited by User:Church on http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/wils5dnc.jpg. 

Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Five_positions_of_dancing_Wilson_1811.jpg#/media/File:Five_positions_of_dancing_Wilson_1811.jpg

2. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_%281995_TV_series%29)

"Brocket Hall" by Self - Own work. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brocket_Hall.jpg#/media/File:Brocket_Hall.jpg