Last night [3/19/2020], California announced that it was extending its shelter-in-place measures across the entire state. To protect the health and safety of our dear friends and dancing enthusiasts, The April 19th English Regency Drum and Tea has been cancelled.
Also, The May 9th "Miss Bennett's Spring Ball and Supper" has been postponed to a date yet to be determined. We shall not be holding on to ticket holders' money until a new date is scheduled. All subscriptions already purchased for the ball shall be refunded immediately. BREAKING NEWS:WE HAVE MOVED: The former First Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church is renovated with new floating wood floors, a working kitchen, and room temperatures comfortable for dancing. NO REGENCY DANCING ON APRIL 19TH BECAUSE CALIFORNIA IS IN COVID-19 LOCKDOWN. A HUGE thanks to all who came out on Sunday, March 15th, 2020 to join us at English Regency Dancing and Tea celebrating the World of Jane Austen, the English Regency Period. We practiced the dances for the May 9th Ball & Supper [which is now postponed TBD]
Whenever we get back to normal, here is information all about us: Let's have tea and dance like Jane Austen: SILVER PARK ARTS COMMUNITY SPACE 2030 GLENDALE BLVD. [150 FT. OFF THE CA-2] LOS ANGELES, CA 90039 PARKING LOT OFF BAXTER ST. IN BACK OF THE CHURCH BLDG. Parking on Glendale Blvd. also possible. · Doors open at 1 pm · Dancing from 1:30 - 5:30 pm Tea from 3 - 4 pm $8.00 Admission There shall be a cream tea [tea and scones with jam & clotted cream] plus finger sandwiches & nibbles, conviviality, and Regency Dancing in the style of aristocratic ballroom dancing in England, 1795-1825. We shall be learning longways set dances, waltzes, some finishing dances, and some of Jane Austen’s favorite dances, the Cotillion [as seen above in the video]. Recorded music by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and traditional tunes.
Donation is $8.00 including the cream tea with scones with clotted cream and jam to start, plus cucumber sandwiches, and assorted nibbles. You can turn the cream tea into afternoon tea by bringing snacks to contribute: fruits, vegetables, crackers, cheeses, meats, salads, or sweets. All contributions gratefully accepted.
Dressing in Regency attire is encouraged but not required. Beginner friendly -- No partner or experience necessary. All dances taught and prompted by your dancing Mistress: Laura Beraha. THE FAVOR OF A REPLY IS APPRECIATED SO AS TO ARRANGE FOR FOOD AND SEATING. Let’s all party like it’s 1799!!
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 quite new and 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. Email us: <KFreasStudio@earthlink.net> 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: <kfreasstudio@earthlink.net> Future Dates for English Regency Dance and Tea Parties: 2020 Jun. 21 Jul. 19 Aug 16 Sep 20 Oct. 18 Nov. 15 NO Dances in December and May 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 whereever 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? Adjascent 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. 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 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 1:30-5:30 pm Where: Silver Park Arts 2030 Glendale Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90039 Enter parking lot from Baxter St. Parking on Glendale Blvd. also possible. $8.00 Donation * 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: <kfreasstudio@earthlink.net>
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.
