Jane Austen's Waltzes
Cathleen Myers

While it's unlikely that Jane Austen herself ever danced the "scandalous waltz," this most beautiful of all dances was first introduced into High Society English ballrooms during her lifetime. The class will focus on both the Regency Waltz, as described in Thomas Wilson's 1816 dance manual, The Correct Method of Waltzing, and on the easy but utterly elegant waltz country dances described by Wilson and by Jane Austen herself in Emma.

Flat-heeled or low-heeled leather-soled dance shoes you can actually pivot, glide, and (gently) leap in are best for the Regency waltz (leather-soled dance sneakers are fine but high heels would be painful to both you and your partner!); the waltz country dances, however, are easy and fun and can easily be danced in just about any comfortable footwear.

Cathleen Myers is the Dance Director of the Dickens Fair and Artistic Director of PEERS (the Period Events & Entertainment Re-Creation Society), which produces full-scale historical costume balls and dance classes almost every First Saturday (for details of PEERS' 2008-2009 Season, see her website at http://www.peers.org).

A dancer since childhood, Cathleen has researched and taught historical and vintage dance in the Bay Area since 1988. In her copious spare time, she also performs occasionally with the Alameda Vintage Dancers and with her own group, the PEERS Flying CirCUS, a historical music, dance and theater performing ensemble, most notorious for their recurring Peerless Music Hall and Le Theatre des Vampires.