There were a lot of Victorian dances in the romantic era. Check out French Terms Used In Victorian Dancing.
The Waltz brought in the couple dance which was also known as the closed dance. In this dance, people used to dance arm in arm. There were terms like to roll and to turn.
Here I will discuss some of the important dances of that time.
Table of Contents
Polka
The polka was a form of the folk dance. This type of dance became very popular. In this the couples used to swirl like in a ballroom. There was this whole thing of chasing, jumping and some playful steps.
Mazurka
This is a polish folk dance and it was also a couple dance.
Gallop
It was a dance in which a man and a woman would chase down the ballroom. Gallop here meant the simple change of steps.
Giving a ball
It was thought then that if you could not dance well, then it was better not to dance. Dance was a form of amusement then.
While talking about dance, the attire was very important.
The Regency Era
This is used to refer to the time periods that is between 1800 and 1830. It was then that this was the most popular form of dance. These forms of dances were performed in such a way that formations were made. These formations were made in the form of squares and lines. It was the waltz, which was discussed more than the dance itself.
The flowering of the Romantic Era
When waltz was receiving a lot of criticism from the people, it slowly became the ballroom dance which was performed generally by the notable figures of the society.
The polka was a form of dance that became when sensational in the ballroom society. Then slowly the trend started changing and people started preferring dance that was more natural and which was done with ease.
Dancing was associated with a lot of excitement, fun, and gracious romance. Ballroom dance was something that reached the zenith at that time.
Very specifically in the Victorian era, social dances became something that was performed by the parents and the grandparents of an individual. Dancing and balls were important places for courtship during the Victorian age.
Over a period of time, dancing became less exciting and less charming. Only a few people started associating themselves to dance. For the middle class, there were two types of dances. They were the Waltz and two-step dance.