“There were twenty dances & I danced
them all…” – Jane Austen
In Jane Austen’s time, dancing was one of
the few ways young men and women could spend time together and court one
another. “Every savage can dance,” Mr. Darcy says, but unless one wished to
dance very ill (Mr. Collins comes to mind) lessons were crucial. Dancing was
considered such an important social skill, that parents hired dancing masters
to come into the homes and teach their sons and daughters not only dance steps,
but also deportment and etiquette. So, as an author of half a dozen other books
set in the Regency era—and someone who loves to dance-- it was probably only a
matter of time until I wrote about a dancing master.
To research the book, I read old instructional
guides and journals written by dancing masters of ages past. But the best and
most enjoyable kind of research was actually learning dances from that time
period. My dear, longsuffering husband and I went English country dancing several
times. It was research, after all! We
learned a lot and enjoyed ourselves.
I also attended the annual general meeting
of the Jane Austen Society of North America, held in Minneapolis in September
2013. It was my first time attending the conference, though I have been a JASNA
member for several years. A sold-out crowd of nearly 800 gathered to celebrate
the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice—a favorite with Austen fans everywhere.
