Remembering the Steps
So now, the big day has come, and you’ve made it to the ball. Everything is wonderful until you realize the dances are all starting to jumble together in your head. How do you possibly remember all the steps?
How do I know? Well, this is precisely how I feel when we got to a regional ball. My husband and I are active in our local English Country Dance community. We dance several times a month, and attend regional events several times a year. I promise you, we don’t remember all the steps to all the dances.
What’s more, I’m pretty certain that’s the case for nearly every dancer in the room. Granted, there are always a few incredible dancers in the room, who leave the rest of us mere mortals in awe, but there rest of us still muddle though. So, how do we still manage to dance?
Prompting or Calling the Dance
The answer is callers. For most of us, the caller is even more important than our partner.
Before the dance, the caller will walk through the dance, reminding or teaching the group about the steps performed in the dance. Steps like ‘turn by the right hand’ are pretty simple and don’t need much review. Other moves like ‘hey for four, diagonally across the set’ is a wee bit more complicated (ok, a lot more complicated and apt to have people get lost in it—ask me how I know this…)
Then the caller prompts the dance steps from the front of the room. A few beats ahead of time, the caller directs the dancers to the next move. And with any luck, we’ll all do that move as we listen for the next prompt, and the next, and the next. After a few repetitions of the dance, callers will often reduce the amount of prompting as dancers start remembering the sequence. Sometimes this leads to a beautifully coordinated room of people being in the right place at the right time. And sometimes hilarity ensues and the train wrecks begin. (Having a good sense of humor is key to being a good modern English Country dancer. Really, really key. But those stories are for another time.)
Dance prompting has been considered a newer phenomenon although some evidence suggests it might have been around as early as 1817. Interestingly, not even the callers, for the most part, will not try to call dances, even ones they know well, without notes. Again there are a few amazing ones out there who seem to carry it all in their heads, but for the rest, there are notes. One thing I find really interesting is how much modern caller’s notes resemble original dance notation, as far back as Playford in the 1600’s.
In The English Dancing Master in 1651, John Playford offered these notes for the dance The fine Companion.
These are our local caller’s modern notes for the same dance.
But if a dance didn’t have a prompter, what then?
Crib Notes and Cheat sheets
Yes, seriously, I mean cheat sheets. For the gentlemen, pocket sized book or pocket cards with the dance steps were available. Dance master and publisher George Chivers offered both publications. The book was sized to fit in a coat pocket and discretely consulted when necessary.
Another option was a set of cards, even smaller than the books.
If you scroll u to the top of the post, check out the first image. The couple at the left is standing out of the dance, and the woman is reading a card. Some have hypothesized that she’s looking at a dance card to see who she is to dance with next. But given the date of the image, it is much more likely that she is checking a dance instruction card to remember the steps to the next dance.
The text on the cards looked like this:
For the ladies, she could borrow a man’s card, or possibly carry a fan printed with the dance steps. Can’t you just imagine a demure young lady fanning herself between sets, casting a furtive glance at her fan to review the steps of the next dance?
An entire gallery of these fans can be found at: https://www.regencydances.org/paper047.php
I confess, I giggled with delight when I found these at the end of the research rabbit hole. Seems like a perfect detail to turn a plot with….
How you might ask? You may need a copy of Dancing with Dragons to find out.
References
Cooper, Paul. Edward Payne, Dancing Master (1792-1819). Regency Dances. November, 25, 2014, updated March 20, 2021. Accessed April 20, 2025. https://www.regencydances.org/paper009.php
Cooper, Paul. G.M.S. Chivers, Dancing Master. Regency Dances. July 20, 2015, updated December 26, 2024. Accessed April 20, 2025. https://www.regencydances.org/paper015.php
Cooper, Paul. The Life of Thomas Wilson, Dancing Master (1774-1854). Regency Dances. May 12, 2014, updated March 14, 2025. Accessed April 20, 2025. https://www.regencydances.org/paper005.php
Eastwood, Gail. Shall we Dance? Regency Dance Series-Part 4—How They Learned. Ricky Regencies. January 24, 2023. Accessed April 20, 2025 https://riskyregencies.com/shall-we-dance-regency-dance-series-part-4-how-they-learned/
Hern, Candice. Dance Instruction Cards. Regency World. Accessed April 20, 2025. https://candicehern.com/regencyworld/dance-instruction-cards/
I noticed the lady on the right in the picture was holding a fan. Perhaps it had her dance steps. My grandparents loved to square dance back in the day. My grandfather was a caller. Reading your post made me think of the time a square dance was held at our house. We had built a new back porch and had not moved anything into it yet. It was the perfect space for hosting a dance. I was little at the time and thought it such fun. Someone had a fiddle, but I don’t remember if there were any other instruments. What a wonderful memory. Thanks for sharing your research rabbit hole.
I was reading about Wilson’s Companion to the Ballroom and several other books on the History of the Dance. I received the impression that callers at large assemblies were not uncommon. Wilson does say that the balls and assemblies of the nobles and upper classes were , or might be different , from the ordinary assemblies.
Of course, if a caller was used, each line of dances had to start at the same time. Othwerwise with a large assembly and each set made u of a reasonable number of couples, there might be 4 or more sets. When the lead lady in the first set calls a dance and it is relayed to the orchestra, and the MC, the dance and the first movements are relayed to the second and sometimes the third couple. Then the other sets watch what the dancers in set #1 do. When set # 1 finishes, they start over until the dance is finished in the last set. Then the first set moves to become the last set and the second set becomes the first set. I read where if the first couple can’t do the steps or if no one can do the steps, the 1st lady gets ne more chance. If that set still has trouble they go to the next set. Everyone is given a number as they enter which is how they make up the sets. Each year lists of new dances were published. Often these were published without music as the orchestra would fit the movements to a known tune. Down the middle and up again and swing your corners were common movements.
Fascinating. I’m sure I would have been useless at it, and thus incapable of bagging myself a brilliant match!