AN AFFILIATE OF THE COUNTRY DANCE & SONG SOCIETY, THE VALLEY AREA ENGLISH REGENCY SOCIETY [VAERS] IS A 501c3 EDUCATIONAL NON-PROFIT DEDICATED TO PRESERVING THE ERA'S CULTURE AND HISTORY THROUGH THE TEACHING OF PERIOD DANCE. YOUR DONATIONS FOR SUPPORT AND CONTINUATION ARE TAX DEDUCTABLE.
Hello Dancers, Jane-ites, and Other Dear Friends, ARTS, CULTURE, AND COMMUNITHY CAN BE GOOD MEDICINE FOR BENEFITTING HEALTH: THER'S HEALING POWER IN JUST DOING IT. Once again we look forward to the elegance, time travel, and sociability of English Regency Dancing. We would love to have you with us. A gentle reminder that we're meeting up again for dancing and tea in Van Nuys on Sunday,June 15, 2025 2:30 - 5:30 pm at the First Lutheran Church of Van Nuys, 6952 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys CA 91405. "Handel with Care" New Dance to our repertory: I just adore it when we dance together to real Classical Music [by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Purcell, etc.], and this we have added another one.: I like the structural simplicity of this U.S.A. [see note below] dance -- "Handel with Care" is a dance composed by Gary Roodman (1987) to George Frideric Handel's: Water Music: Suite No. 1 in F Major, HWV 348: VII. Bourrée Dear Dancers, Jane-ites, and Other Dear Friends,
Come celebrate Steve and Laura's 13th wedding anniversary on June 15th in Van Nuys [we'll have CAKE!] Please note the change in admission price, and pre-payment information. We would like to dance this next time [June 15, 2025) in Van Nuys, CA in Person, If we can have a few more experienced dancers, we can do this. We dance on Zoom at 10a.m. PST on on 2nd and 4th Sunday mornings. Our next Zoom dance will be Sunday, June 22 , 2025. --- Here's the Link to join on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87250979063?pwd=eitIek1XZEVNMms2MkYxU0VYV1gwQT09 If we have enough people, we'll dance "Handel With Care" and if not, then "Cockle Shells": Herewith dance notes & video: http://dancevideos.childgrove.org/ecd/playford/203-cockle-shells
For HANDEL WITH CARE -- Herewith the tutorial video by George W. Williams V: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEF7qMW7-KU and herewith also a video of people actually dancing to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Le5i59fp8 DANCE INSTRUCTIONS: "Handel with Care" Beckett Formation: [2-couples facing across the hall - Lady on man's right]] A1 1-4 Ptrs lead up a double and back, and turn in. 5-8 Lead away a double and fall back, turning in to face up. B1 1-4 First M and Second W cast off, followed by ptrs, to face up in a line of four. 5-8 Line of four up a double and back, ends moving in to form a circle. B2 1-4 Circle four to L half way, all turn single R. 5-8 Face ptr for 3 changes of a circular hey, beg with R shldr. End facing ptr. A2 1-8 Ptr siding: R shldr to ptr and fall back and repeat with L shldr. B1 & B2 As above. A2 1-8 Arming with ptr: R elbow turn and L elbow turn. B1 & B2 As above. (No progression; end in original place NOTE: It's a U.S.A. dance: Verses: U [Up a double], S[Siding] and A[Arming] followed by same chorus 3rd SUNDAY ENGLISH REGENCY DANCING in Van Nuys ~ Valley Area English Regency Society When: June 15, 2025 (SUNDAY) Time: 2:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Where: First Lutheran Church of Van Nuys, 6952 Van Nuys Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91405 Caller: Laura Beraha Music: Recorded Music of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and Traditional Tunes Food: Seated Tea: Scones, cucumber sandwiches, & other nibbles provided; [donations of snacks gratefully accepted] Water: Please bring your own Partner: Don’t need one – you’ll always get one in these social mixer dances Costumes: Admired but never required Cost: $20: PREPAYMENT PREFERRED: PayPal (Friend) or Zelle <[email protected]> or email us for an address to send a check. Will accept cash at the door [and hope we don’t run out of food]. Parking: Plenty in lot and street. Dance entrance = PARKING LOT IN REAR Covid Protocol: Observing current Los Angeles County guidelines – Masks Optional Contact: Laura Beraha at [email protected] (818) 970-5118 <valleyareaenglishregencysociety.org> Laura Brodian Freas Beraha Jane Austen attended many balls, and much preferred the Cotillions to the Quadrilles. At our parties we have danced La Royale and the only cotillion that Jane ever referred to in writing: La Boulangere. Introducing another for your consideration: Mr. Turner's Academy Cotillion. Beautiful, elegant, lots of parts [but Almost nothing you haven't done before if you've danced with us at all].
After you've perused the following, kindly Let Me Know If You'd Like To Try This. I LOVE this dance and I'll happily teach it to you if that's your desire.
[Reprinted from RegencyDances.org]
Dancing like Jewels Mr R___: “Dance faster, Dr N___, I’m catching up with you.” Dr N___: “Then you are ahead of the music, sir, since I reach my position on time.”
The dancer must measure his steps to the music. To arrive late, through the exigencies of the dance, is a misdemeanour – but to arrive early is a crime! Nowhere is timing more important than in the cotillion. Danced well, they are like the jewelled chronometers beloved of their period, where every cog and lever turns and moves precisely in its allotted scope – wheels within wheels and turns within turns – punctuated by the chassé, contratemp and rigadon steps.
FUTURE DATES FOR THIRD SUNDAY ENGLISH REGENCY [NO DANCES DURING THE MONTHS OF MAY AND DECEMBER] 2025:JUNE 15, JULY 20, SEPT 27** OCT 18 NOVEMBER 15 **Meeting on 4th Sunday because of Religious Holidays on 3rd Sunday
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW.............. NEW.........................NEW.....................NEW!! REGENCY DANCING IN SIMI VALLEY, CA, ON THIRD THURSDAYS MAY 15, 2025 Bridgerton Era Dance Lessons for Moderns Learn Aristocratic English Country Dancing 1985-1825 in Jane Austen’s footsteps. Light refreshments served. Bring your own water. Third Thursdays 6-9 pm $10 DIRECT LINK TO PRE-REGISTER app.amilia.com/store/en/rancho-simi-recreation--park-district/api/Activity/Detail?activityId=x9w6OoX :LOCATION: RANCHO SANTA SUSANA COMMUNITY CENTER 5005-C Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley, CA 93063 Let's all party like it's 1799!! Preregistration with the Rec. Center is mandatory for admission. Here’s a quick rundown of the registration process. Each participant must pre-register either in person at the community center or online at [https://rsrpd.org/](https://l.facebook.com/l.php...). The participant will need to make an account or have an account made for them if they have not participated in RSRPD activities within the last few years before they will be able to register. Below is the direct link to the registration page: app.amilia.com/store/en/rancho-simi-recreation--park-district/api/Activity/Detail?activityId=x9w6OoX For more information and registration, please contact the Rancho Santa Susana Community Center RSSCC Office Staff (805) 584-4456 =================================================================================== =================================================================================== MORE ABOUT THE ONLINE, 2ND & 4TH SUNDAY ZOOM DANCES We are holding ZOOM ONLY English Regency dancing ONLINE on 2nd and 4th Sundays at 10 AM Pacific Time. Invite Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87250979063?pwd=eitIek1XZEVNMms2MkYxU0VYV1gwQT09 General information : The dances shall be adapted to one or two dancers. Period clothing and fancy teacups are optional. Zoom invitations will be sent via email BEFORE the day of the dance. Contact KFreasStudio@earthlink.net (and include your first and last name) for the links. OUTLINE OF THE ZOOM ONLY SESSIONS: [All times are Pacific Time] 9:45 - 10 a.m.: ZOOM will open GREET AND CHAT. 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.: with a 5 minute break at 10:30 11:00 -: The Zoom will stay open for additional socializing. There is no charge for the Zoom only dances, but if you would like to contribute, we will be grateful for your donation on PayPal to KFreasStudio@earthlink.net. Any contribution would be gratefully appreciated and IS TAX DECUCTIBLE!! We invite you to join us as we party like it’s 1799!! ==================================================================================================== Future Dances on Zoom: 2nd & 4th Sundays 10 - 11:10 a.m Pacific Time Email Laura Beraha for the Zoom links: [email protected] 10-11:00 am PDT. CONTACT LAURA BERAHA FOR THE LINK: FOR 2ND AND 4TH SUNDAYS ZOOM REGENCY DANCING Email: [email protected] Facebook: Laura Brodian Freas Beraha General information: The dances shall be adapted to one or two dancers. Zoom invitations will be sent via email. Contact [email protected] (and include your first and last name) for the links. OUTLINE OF THE ZOOM ONLY SESSIONS: [All times are Pacific Time] 9:45 - 10 a.m.: ZOOM will open GREET AND CHAT. 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.: Dance, with a 5 minute break at 10:30 11:00 -: The Zoom will stay open for additional socializing. There is no charge for the Zoom only dances, but if you would like to contribute, we will be grateful for your donation on PayPal to KFreasStudio@earthlink.net. Any contribution would be gratefully appreciated, ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE, and we thank you in advance. We invite you to join us as we party like it’s 1799!!
Let us meet for a Regency Tea Dance and also chat, watch dance videos, talk about period clothing, or just sip tea & chat [period clothing optional].
I've pushed back the start time to 9:45 a.m., to give people 15 minutes to check in and socialize. I shall continue to admit people once the meeting is started at 10 a.m. , but shall NOT be able to answer phone calls, texts, or emails asking for login information. Please login to the Zoom meeting early. Dancing ends at 11:00 am, but the meeting shall remain open for 15-30 minutes for socializing.
ABOUT US: VAERS celebrates the life and times of the Jane Austen period by holding a mostly monthly "drum" [the Regency word for "party"] on the Third Sunday of almost each month: we're 'dark' in May and December. Begun on April 17, 2016 we are still growing and would love to have you join us. VAERS [Valley Area English Regency Society] is the sister group to BAERS, the Bay Area English Regency Society, both founded by your dancing mistress, Laura Brodian Freas Beraha. VAERS, an affiliate of the Country Dance & Song Society, is a 501c3 non-profit educational association. Your donations are tax deductible. Email us: <[email protected]> See us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/473189852842482/ Let's party like it's 1799!! Find us on FaceBook under VAERS [Valley Area English Regency Society] Mrs. Beraha's email: <[email protected]> Teaching "Childgrove": https://www.facebook.com/laura.b.freas/videos/10155367974714998/ Teaching the cotillion "La Royale" www.facebook.com/tony.blass/videos/10154124595205899/ Essay: RUNNING BEHIND: CATCH UP OR NOT? While Vintage Dancing: "Oh, No! We're behind! Do we rush to catch up?" The short answer is "No, the music is always faster than you are." OK.....what do we do instead? Short answer: "Be like the cat...the cats glides to where-ever it wants to go to and makes it look deliberate." HOW DO WE DO THAT? How do we know where to go and with which figures we'll wind up where we started? Short answer: Decide where you're going to end up at the end of the figure and just go there and Wait for the music to catch up with you. HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN OR HOW TO DO THIS? Think ahead. There are LOTS of figures where you wind up exactly where you started. Some examples: 1. Anytime a figure 'goes around once' 2. Back-to-Back 3. Siding [side Right - side Left] 4. Right hands across - Left hands across 5. Circling right and Circling left 6. Ladies full chain 7. Rights and Lefts - four changes 8. A's cast down & B's move up, then A's cast and go up and B's move down. All back in original places. 9. Full Pousette Trust me on this: Rushing to catch up is not elegant. Going to your final place on the figure is Very elegant. The music will beat you to the finish every time. Just go your starting place and look smart while the music catches up with you. [remember the cat: "I MEANT to do that. I MEANT to do that." Guess what? Adjacent minor sets won't even notice because they'll be busy concentrating on their own figures. If you happen to hear me calling some weird sounding figures on the other side of the room, it's probably me catching up one Very late minor set by clapping my hands and calling "Stop! Everybody Home, Home, NOW!" If your minor set is running very late, at least one of you in your set can take the lead and gesture or say to the others in your minor set: "Let it go. No time. Everyone home." Something to ponder...Try it the next time your minor set runs late. You'll look so meant and so put together if you do this. You'll also help prevent a breakdown and keep the continuity.
SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY One of our dances is the British progenitor of America's "The Virginia Reel" called "Sir Roger de Coverley". Was there an actual historical person so named? Actually, there was and there wasn't. According to Encyclopedia Brittanica: "Sir Roger de Coverley, fictional character, devised by Joseph Addison, who portrayed him as the ostensible author of papers and letters that were published in Addison and Richard Steele’s influential periodical The Spectator. As imagined by Addison, Sir Roger was a baronet of Worcestershire and was meant to represent a typical landed country gentleman. He was also a member of the fictitious Spectator Club, and the de Coverley writings included entertaining vignettes of early 18th-century English life that were often considered The Spectator’s best feature." Vignettes of eary 18th-century English life? OK. I must find these and read them. From the latest issue of the Jane Austen Newsletter comes this challenging Jane Austen Quiz: See how you fare! https://www.janeausten.co.uk/jane-austen-quiz/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Costume%2C+Conferences+and+Hooray+for+Mr+Bennet%21&utm_campaign=centre+newsletter+8%2F3%2F17
THE SCANDELOUS WALTZ A few words about the Waltz during the English Regency Period and how absolutely scandelous it was then for a man to be holding a woman in his arms IN PUBLIC!! [courtesy of Auburn University] The term for the dance, the Waltz comes from the old German word "walzen", which means to roll, turn, or to glide. When first introduced into the English ballrooms in the early 1800's, the Waltz was denounced by both church and state for its vulgarity and immorality, primarily due to its closer hold and rapid turning movements. Religious leaders almost unanimously regarded it as vulgar and sinful. In July of 1816, the waltz was included in a ball given in London by the Prince Regent. A blistering editorial in The Times a few days later stated: "We remarked with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced (we believe for the first time) at the English court on Friday last ... it is quite sufficient to cast one's eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs and close compressure on the bodies in their dance, to see that it is indeed far removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the civil examples of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion." Auburn University website:https://www.auburn.edu/academic/classes/hhp/hastie/social%20dance/waltz.htm
Hello again, Dancers and Jane Austen Era Enthusiasts, Thanks to all who came to English Regency Dancing in Pasadena on June 16th, 2019. It was so lovely to have you with us. The sociability of Regency dancing is what sets it apart from contemporary dance parties: people actually get to carry on conversations!
Last time we enjoyed doing longways set dances, Salamanca Castanets [a dance for three couples], and, one of Jane Austen's favorite dances, a Cotillion. Here is a video, courtesy of Tony Blass, of the Cotillion, "La Royale": www.facebook.com/tony.blass/videos/10154124595205899/
We'll dance "La Royale" again, and if you really like cotillions, I'll start introducing new ones in the coming months. Let me know. If there's a particular dance that you enjoy, and if you tell me ahead of time, I'll see if I can include it in the next dance program.
On April 28th, 2019 we celebrated our 3rd anniversary of Valley Area English Regency Society [we had cake!]. However, we are still a young group and growing and we'd like more people to join us. Start thinking about bringing some friends [or at least one friend] to Regency dancing. Even if they are not 'dancers'. If someone can walk and can follow instructions, practically Anyone can do this! It's like a time travel oasis from the travails of daily life, a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Before you leave the 'drum', please take some of the cards on the table to give out. You'll never know who has an appreciation for Jane Austen until you ask!! When: Third Sundays of mostly each month from 2:30-5:30 pm
Your Dancing Mistress is Laura Brodian Freas Beraha Voice:(818)-992-1252; Text: (818) 970-5118 Light refreshments provided however your donation of snacks to share is always appreciated! Costumes admired but never required! No partner or experience necessary: all dances taught and called. Find us on FaceBook under VAERS [Valley Area English Regency Society] Mrs. Beraha's email: <[email protected]>
ESSAYS AAAK! A COUPLE LEFT THE SET WHILE WE WERE DANCING!! A Note on Etiquette on the dance floor: As dance instructor Walter Nelson admonished dancers [many were new] in the first set dance at the Social Daunce Irregulars Formal Victorian Ball November 26th 2017, "Once you're in a set, you stay in a set. If you leave a set in the middle of a dance it will ruin it for the other dancers." Unfortunately, not all dancers get the message. Some new dancers miss the point that as social mixers these dances demonstrate that one essentially dances with everyone in the room. Figures need a set number of dancers to be executed. Sometimes new dancers are so focused on themselves that they are unaware of the results of their actions on other dancers. This brings up an interesting question: You are dancing in a duple minor set dance. You have progressed and suddenly discover that there’s no new couple to dance with. What happened? Apparently one couple has left the set in the middle of a dance. What do you do? The only saving grace is this: if a couple leaves your minor set during a dance, quickly extricate yourself and your partner, go down to the bottom of the set and re-enter there. If you have the misfortune of your partner leaving during the dance, tell the other couple in your minor set to reenter at the bottom while you leave and try to find another partner. Then you and your new partner shall come back in at the bottom of the set. It recently happened at one of my ‘drums’: a dancer panicked, left the dance, and could not be convinced to stay. In my case, I was fortunate enough to call a by-standing person onto the floor to replace the errant person, and the dance continued without interruption. Barring that, if someone in your minor set leaves, whoever remains in your minor set, just go to the bottom of the set and re-enter the dance. That way, it won't be ruined for the rest of the members of the adjacent duple minor sets. I don't want to even think about the nightmare that would occur if someone bugged out of a triple minor set dance!!!
Escape the stresses of everyday living. Let's all party like it's 1799.
