Tea Dancing and Ballroom
What is Tea dancing?
Tea dancing is a social dance form that is performed at social dance events. A tea dance or thé dansant (French: literally dancing tea) is a dance that happens in summer or autumn in the early- evening starting at 4pm and finishing at seven pm. It sometimes takes place in the English countryside by a garden party or function. It evolved from the idea of the afternoon tea.
History
There have been Books on Victorian etiquette, one of these books includes Party-giving on Every Scale (London, n.d. [1880]), this included some very detail instructions for throwing such parties. By 1880, it was said that "Afternoon dances are seldom given in London, but are a popular form of entertainment in the suburbs, in garrison towns, watering-places, etc." Tea dances were presented by Royal Navy officers aboard ships at multiple different naval stations, the expenses were shared by the captain and officers, as they were divided by colonels and leaders at barrack dances in mess rooms ashore.
The normal refreshments in 1880 were tea and coffee, iced, champagne-cup and claret-cup, sandwiches,fruit, biscuits, and cake. Even after the introducing of the phonograph, the preferred way to play music from a live orchestra, this is referred to as a palm court orchestra, or a small band is playing pretty classical music. The forms of dances shown during tea dances included waltzes, tangos and, by the late 1920s, the Charleston.
The price of a seated supper, wine, and candles and all things associated with a ball were avoided by the tea dance community. They would use a stiff waxed canvas cloth to cover the carpeted area that they would be dancing on rather than just removing the carpet and waxing the floor in preparation for dancing. The dining room would serve as a tea-room, with the dining tables arranged at one end as a buffet. For the older generation, a tea dance was a reception akin to an "at home". Floral decorations were modest.
Examples
Tea dancing groups
Spitalfields Tea Dances
Covent Garden Dance Orchestra
The Ragroof Players Tea Dance
Here are some of our group learning a tea dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb0mfSYCq9c
Here are some of our group learning a tea dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb0mfSYCq9c
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