A Dance with Jane Austen: How a Novelist and her Characters went to the Ball, Susannah Fullterton
“Ah”, I said, when I saw Susannah Fullerton’s book in my mail box. “Here’s just the book I need.” Some of the biggest gaps in my Austen reference library concern dance and music. Whenever I wanted to find out more about the social customs of balls and dancing, how ladies and gentleman conducted themselves, the food served at supper balls, the etiquette of a gentleman’s introduction to a lady before he could dance with her, precisely when the waltz became acceptable not only among the racy upper crust but with villagers in the hinterlands as well, and the difference between private balls and public balls, I had to consult a variety of books. This was time-consuming, and a bit frustrating, for there were variations in details that each source offered.
And now Susannah Fullerton has come to my rescue! Readers who have visited the Jane Austen Society of Australia (an excellent site) know that Ms. Fullerton is its president, and that she has written a previous book, Jane Austen and Crime. A Dance With Jane Austen is a compact illustrated book crammed with information, but written in a relaxed and accessible style. Topics include: Learning to dance, Dressing for the dance, Getting to and from a ball, Assembly balls, Private balls, Etiquette of the ballroom, Men in the ballroom, Dancing and music, ‘They sat down to supper’, Conversation and courtship, The shade of a departed ball, and Dance in Jane Austen films.
Ms. Fullerton culls information from Austen’s letters, novels, and historic texts, such as The Complete System of English Country Dancing, by Mr. Wilson, a dancing master of some renown and decided opinions. She also describes how Beau Nash, the influential master of ceremonies and taste maker in Bath, laid down a set of rules for Society to follow. Nash single-handedly changed a small, sleepy city into THE playground for the smart set with his dictums and innovations, which lasted well beyond his death.
The Five Positions of Dancing, Wilson, 1811
Jane Austen was no stranger to Bath’s public assemblies, or to dancing in private settings. She loved to dance and rarely said no when a man approached her for a set. Jane danced as often as she could, wryly observing to her sister when she was in her thirties and when partners became scarcer: “You will not expect to hear that I was asked to dance, but I was.”
Getting to a ball might be problematic for those who had no means to keep horses or carriages. It made little sense to walk miles in fancy garb over dirt roads to a social event, and so arrangements needed to be made for those who were going to a dance to piggy-back with individuals who were willing to take them. This meant arriving and leaving a dance on someone else’s schedule. Catherine Morland did not walk to the Assembly Rooms, but took a sedan chair, for private carriages were seldom used within Bath proper. Her journey from “Great Pulteney Street to the Upper Rooms would have cost her between one shilling and six pence and two shillings (one way) – an expensive luxury at the time.”
A Modern Belle Going to the Rooms at Bath, Gillray caricature
The dancing ritual was one of courtship, and Jane Austen took full advantage of a ball to set the stage for character development. In each novel she takes a different approach. Lizzie and Darcy tense relationship began at the Meryton Assembly Ball, a situation that was not helped at the private ball at the Lucas’s house nor at the Netherfield Ball, where Lizzie’s family behaved abominably. The dances in Mansfield Park serve to show how selfish the characters are, and to point out Fanny’s isolation from the neighbors. Dancing masters taught children to dance properly, and they received further practice at children’s balls, but Fanny had few opportunities for practice, and she felt tense when she was prominently displayed at her birthday ball. Jane Austen masterfully used the dances in Emma to show how Emma never quite loses sight of Mr. Knightley even as she dances with Frank Churchill, and one gets a good sense of the frustration Catherine Morland feels at not being able to dance at her very first ball in Bath, for there was no one to introduce her and Mrs. Allen properly, or the utter irritation she feels when John Thorpe ruins her well-laid plans to dance with Mr. Tilney at a later assembly ball. Austen also uses balls to demonstrate how outrageous Marianne Dashwood’s behavior is towards Willoughby, breaking many rules of etiquette and decorum.
A Broad Hint of Not Meaning to Dance, James Gillray, published by Hannah Humphreys
Ms. Fullerton sets aside a few pages to discuss dances in films. These elaborately staged scenes are highly popular with film buffs. The costumes are beautiful, as is the music, and the settings are often quite lavish. But be aware that most of the dances and music are often inaccurate and chosen for cinematic effect. (As an aside, I was glad to note that Susannah’s take on Pride and Prejudice 1940 was similar to mine.)
Susannah Fullerton
Insights such as these make this book a sheer pleasure to read. A Dance with Jane Austen will be a valuable addition on the book shelves of any Regency author, Janeite, and history buff. As Susannah Fullterton says about her book:
Dances in the Regency era were almost the only opportunity young men and women had to be on their own without a chaperone right next to them, and dancing provided the exciting chance of physical touch. ..Dances were long – one often spent 30 minutes with the same partner – so there was plenty of opportunity for flirtation, amorous glances, and pressing of hands. After the dance was over, there was all the pleasure of gossip about everything that had happened.”
A Dance with Jane Austen will be available in October. Readers who are lucky enough to go to the Jane Austen Society Annual General Meeting in New York in a few weeks will have the opportunity to meet Ms. Fullerton! I give this book 5 out of 5 Regency tea cups.
Preorder the book at this Amazon.com link or at Frances Lincoln Publishers
Hardcover: 144 pages
Publisher: Frances Lincoln (October 16, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0711232458
ISBN-13: 978-0711232457
Please note: The blue links are mine; other links are supplied by WordPress. I do not make money from my blog. I do, however, receive books from publishers to review.
Jane Austen's World 
I need this book. I am going to look for it. It too will add to my already burgeoning Jane Austen library.
Thanks for the information, Vic! I’ve done the preorder, can’t wait to get it!
Reblogged this on Xingu, Volume 2 and commented:
For other Austen fans:
Thanks, Vic! I’m going to put this on my wish list. :)
I used to be a member of the Jane Austen Society of Australia. Susannah Fulllerton is a lovely lady. JASNA is far more academic based than most other Jane Austen societies, perhaps a little looser round the stays than JAS though here in England Ha! Ha!
All the people at JASNA are absolutely terrific and the website is well worth having a look at.
Their yearly publications, the “JASNA Chronicle,” which is more newsy and PERSUASIONS , which is for academic papers, are well worth a read.
Tony
Tony, one of your images of the Dolphin Hotel in Portsmouth, where Jane danced, is included in the book. Congratulations!
Thanks for that bit of information, Vic. Quite an honour having my photograph of The Dolphin Hotel published in Susannah’s book. Susannah is a very good writer and also writes academic papers. I made a mistake, JASA’s academic publication is Sensibilities, not Persuasions.
I’m getting my acronyms for Jane Austen societies mixed up. Please read JASA for JASNA above. Sorry!!!!!
bonjour
j’ aime l’ avant dernière image
les porteurs de chaise il y a un coté comique
la dance , la contre dance
votre évocation est super
j’ aime vous lire ,même si la traduction est un peu limitée
dans sa compréhension
bonne journée
edith ( France )
I am going to buy this book. It really looks very interesting.
It looks like a very interesting book and an invaluable source of reference.
Incidentally, it seems that scientists have now proved that reading Jane Austen is good for the brain.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/reading-good-for-brain-_n_1884054.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
Added on twitter. I must look for this book! Thanks for sharing, Vic.
Hi<
I just stumbled across this blog and I love it. I have a question & I apologize if you've already answered this somewhere but where did you get the header image? It's beautiful and if it's a painting I'd love to try to get a print of it.
Thanks
Thank you, Patricia. I had it photoshopped. The header image is generic. Images from fashion plates inserted into the scene completed the header. The image is quite small and would not reproduced well. But thank you for asking.
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This popped up on my Amazon recommendations a couple of weeks ago and I promptly preordered it. Thanks for your review, Vic. It looks like an informative and entertaining book. I will be at the JASNA AGM and look forward to meeting Susannah!
I found the book to be shockingly disappointing. The lack of detail throughout makes it suitable for only the most neophyte Janeites.
The most exasperating aspect of the book is the total lack of captions or identification for any of the illustrations or photos. The reader doesn’t know the year the illustration was created, who created it or what it depicts. Some of the drawings were created by Victorians to illustrate Jane Austen books and some are Regency period fashion plates. Will the average person know the difference? One of the photos show what looks to be heavily embroidered silk dancing slippers. What material are they made from, what year, what country?
The author often quotes from the novels and the letters but never includes specifics. For example, in a quote from one of Jane Austen’s letters to her sister she talks about spending all her money on gloves but neither the year the letter was written nor Jane Austen’s age at the time were given.
The last chapter on dance in the films is a scant three pages long and once again the lack of detail is maddening.
A book on dance and Jane Austen was sorely needed but this book is a disservice to the topic and the reader. When I’m at the AGM, if I hear an Aussie accent I’ll be heading in the opposite direction.
The lack of captions under the images was the one problem I had with the book. Although the attributions sit in the back, it would have been nice to know the information as one looked at the photos and illustrations, instead of flipping back and forth. I do agree with you there.
As Vic writes, Susannah had all her references in the back of the book, just like all other writers do,, for., pictures, letters, novels and other sources..
To keep writing those in the body of the text would have made the book rather clunky I would have thought..
The book is about the social meanings of dance.The relationship and courtship aspects. It seems a bit much to want to know about,the ” heavily embroidered silk dancing slippers. What material are they made from, what year, what country?” That is not what the book is about at all.
I am sorry you are going to walk in the opposite direction if you hear an Australian accent at the New York AGM. You are too timid and afraid to approach Susannah obviously. Apart from that you sound extremely bad mannered.
The reference in the back of the book refer only to who currently owns the illustrations. They do not say the year or the name of the name of the person who created them. One line of text under each drawing would not have made the “book” chunky. That information would have made the book more enjoyable for all.
As for the information about the slippers, clothing is and always will be a very important social aspect of dance. Many of Jane Austen’s letters mention purchasing bonnets, clothes, and gloves. Why bother including the photograph of the slippers or other items if you aren’t going to tell the reader what they are. That’s like a large format coffee table book with gorgeous landscape photos that aren’t identified. Yes, the photos are beautiful but the book would be more pleasing if the reader knew what and where they were looking at.
You mistake me, sir, in declaring me timid. I am a passionate, outspoken historian and dancer who only wishes her beloved avocation (dance) was better represented by this book. My wish to avoid the author was simply a way to prevent my enthusiasm for the topic from overtaking all and sundry.
I understand your passion about dance and applaud you for it. While I did find the lack of captions irritating (I really think dates and provenance are important, for they help the reader to learn), the images were very neatly placed near the text that described a similar situation. As I read about dance clothes, or Jane dancing at the Dolphin Inn, the image was right there for me to see.
I have just finished reading ‘A Dance with Jane Austen’ and absolutely loved it. The book is full of fascinating detail about the social customs concerning dance, about dress, etiquette and food. I especially loved Susannah Fullerton’s analysis of courtship on the dance floor. The book is beautifully illustrated and it is clear from their placing in the text what the pictures refer to, so I didn’t find that a problem at all. I was astonished that Vive could complain about the lack of detail in the book – I think the author found almost every interesting quote from the letters, and so many wonderful quotes from the novels to illustrate her points.
I adored Susannah Fullerton’s book on ‘Jane Austen and Crime’,loved this book on dance and look forward to her forthcoming book about 200 years of ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
Susannah Fullerton’s ‘A Dance with Jane Austen’ is just wonderful. I didn’t want to put it down and was so interested in all the interesting detail about what went on at dances in her era and of course also in the novels. And it is such a gorgeous book, with entertaining and lavish illustrations. I totally agree with your review of it, Vic.
This book should be on every Janeite’s Christmas wish-list!
Elle, thanks for letting me know that her ‘Jane Austen and Crime’ is also a good book – must order that one next, as it sounds intriguing.
I found “A Dance with Jane Austen” a total pleasure to read. For many years I have read and reviewed books about Jane Austen and/or the wider Regency period and this book is a wonderful addition to my library. Physically it is a beautiful book – the paper, the font, the gorgeous illustrations, both from contemporary sources and from various editions of the novels, up to and including film treatments (put a sticky note in the list at the back if you are bothered by not having immediate access to details) make it enjoyable to hold. And the text is completely accessible to the general reader as well as offering new insights and ideas to the academic reader and covers a very broad spectrum of the intersections between Jane Austen and dance. I consider myself very well read in Austen scholarship and I was educated and amused by this book. If I had had the good fortune to be at the JASNA AGM I would have sought out the author and thanked her for the great enjoyment her book gave me.
Many thanks, Vic, for your wonderful review of my book. I’m delighted that you enjoyed it so much.
Vive has raised the issue of captions to the illustrations in my book. The designer was keen to keep captions off the pages in many cases, as he felt they ruined the look of those pages. However, I do agree that there should have been more detail given in the back of the book. This book was the first time I have ever had to provide and work on the illustrations myself, and it was quite a learning experience. I will ensure that more detail is added for future editions of the book, to satisfy readers wanting more information. The dance slippers, by the way, are made from cream silk, are English and date from 1820.
I deliberately kept the ‘Film’ section of the book very small. My aim was to discuss the dances Jane Austen knew, along with all the etiquette and customs connected with dances, and to show how she uses dance within her novels. Dance in the films is a whole new topic, as so many filmmakers have not been accurate in their selection of dances – Mr Beveridge’s Maggot is a good example of that. Perhaps Vive would like to consider writing her own book on that topic?
I am very sorry that she has been disappointed in the book and that she would have hesitated to approach me at the JASNA conference. I share her passion for Jane Austen and for dance, which is why I wrote the book, and I am delighted that so many other readers have gained knowledge and pleasure from reading it.
[…] was asked by Frances Lincoln, the UK publishing firm who published A Dance with Jane Austen (read review here), if I would write a book about 200 years of Pride and Prejudice. I had barely finished Dance and […]
I have just finished devouring the text of this delightful book by Susannah Fullerton over a single weekend and I must say it exceeded my (already high) expectations. The analysis of dancing in each of JA’s completed novels and also in her fragments of literature is thorough without being at all laboured. By interspersing passages from correspondence the reader is shown how Austen viewed the whole experience of the dance from preparation to “debrief” afterwards. Production values are high and I had no difficulty appreciating the contribution each well-chosen illustration made to the total presentation. I recommend this book highly and look forward with some impatience to Susannah Fullerton’s next title.
Susannah Fullerton’s “A Dance with Jane Austen” is an absolute treasure from start to finish. The actual production is a joy to behold (and hold!) with exquisite illustrations and extremely elegant print. Lovers of Jane, of the Regency period and of social history in general will adore this book. Susannah writes with such fluency and the reader becomes quite effortlessly part of Jane Austen’s world. I read this book in one sitting – despaired when I finished. Certainly, I am now inspired to re-read all my Austen favourites again – I think this gorgeous book will inspire so many others to enter into the world of Regency England again, or for some, maybe for the first time. It is no surprise that this charming book garners praise from three of the greats in the Jane Austen field – Deirdre Le Faye, Claire Tomalin and Maggie Lane – high praise indeed and very well deserved.
Read it and enjoy!
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