0:00:02 > 0:00:05'In this series, Lucy and I are joining forces to uncover
0:00:05 > 0:00:08'the British love affair with dancing.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11'I'll be putting her through her paces on the dance floor,
0:00:11 > 0:00:13'and she'll be giving me a history lesson.'
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Lucy, chop chop, a little bit quicker please, time for lunch.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20'From the 17th to the 20th century, we'll discover how much
0:00:20 > 0:00:25'our favourite dances tell us about the nation's social history.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28'From money and morals to sex and snobbery -
0:00:28 > 0:00:31'you can find it all on the British dance floor.'
0:00:31 > 0:00:33- Twerking, nothing new.- Yeah.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36- It's from the Charleston!- Yeah.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42'We'll visit fancy ballrooms to see how the other half danced
0:00:42 > 0:00:46'and factory floors to find out what the rest of us got up to.'
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Moira, I think Len's wiggling his hips.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54'We'll dress to dance in perfect period style...'
0:00:54 > 0:00:57I'm a bit of eye-candy for a lot of the ladies.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01'..from the tips of our toes to the tops of our wigs.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04'And each episode we'll experience the era's most iconic
0:01:04 > 0:01:06'dances for ourselves.'
0:01:06 > 0:01:07Back to your partner.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09When are we ever going to get together and link arms?
0:01:09 > 0:01:11The next, the next bit,
0:01:11 > 0:01:13but we've got to get the tension between you here.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15'As we learn them for a grand finale
0:01:15 > 0:01:18'where we'll be dancing cheek to cheek.'
0:01:26 > 0:01:28At the end of the 18th century,
0:01:28 > 0:01:33knowing how to dance was a matter of social life or death.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36But 150 years before that,
0:01:36 > 0:01:38dancing hadn't been held in such high regard.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42Some people felt that it was dangerous and depraved,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44a social menace to be stamped out.
0:01:44 > 0:01:50So what was it that lured so many people onto the ballroom floor?
0:01:50 > 0:01:54And how did dancing go from being the work of the devil to high art?
0:02:00 > 0:02:04LIVELY ACCORDION MUSIC
0:02:12 > 0:02:17Today we Brits think of ourselves as a nation with no natural rhythm.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21We're more bad dad dancers than kings of the dance floor,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24with a few honourable exceptions, of course.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27But in the 17th century, things were very different -
0:02:27 > 0:02:31then we had a fearsome reputation for dancing, and foreign visitors
0:02:31 > 0:02:36commented that all of us, rich and poor, young and old, loved to dance.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Dancing was absolutely central to our everyday life.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43Instead of being a historical curiosity, this would have
0:02:43 > 0:02:46been a common sight in villages throughout the country.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Back then we really were a nation of dancers.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57# Get on your dancing shoes... #
0:02:57 > 0:03:01And the simple reason for dancing's universal appeal was
0:03:01 > 0:03:03the promise of romance.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07400 years ago, men and women led very separate lives,
0:03:07 > 0:03:12so dancing was a rare chance to get to grips with the opposite sex.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18With the help of a group of performing arts students,
0:03:18 > 0:03:23Len and I are recreating one of the 17th century's raciest dances -
0:03:23 > 0:03:26the rather raunchy Cushion Dance.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30# This dance it will no longer go
0:03:30 > 0:03:34# I pray you, good sir Why say you so?
0:03:34 > 0:03:39# Because Jane Sanderson will not come too
0:03:39 > 0:03:42# She must come too and she shall come too and she must come
0:03:42 > 0:03:45# Whether she will or no... #
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Oh!
0:03:51 > 0:03:55# Welcome Jane Sanderson, welcome, welcome... #
0:03:58 > 0:04:01You may think that the Cushion Dance is really pretty innocent,
0:04:01 > 0:04:06but 400 years ago, to some people it did cause a real problem.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09The opportunities for nice young ladies
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and gentlemen to flirt together, to touch each other, were
0:04:12 > 0:04:17so tightly controlled that to more religious and conservative
0:04:17 > 0:04:21members of society, the Cushion Dance represented danger.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25They saw it as foreplay between unmarried men and women.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28And one 17th century critic said that the Cushion Dance
0:04:28 > 0:04:32was among the pretty provocatory dances used to
0:04:32 > 0:04:35attract their clients by prostitutes.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37# Princum Prankum is a fine dance
0:04:37 > 0:04:40# And shall we go dance it once again... #
0:04:40 > 0:04:41Whatever the killjoys said,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45the Cushion Dance remained a firm favourite, and you can see why.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50How else could you get your hands on the prettiest girl,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53or the handsomest boy in the village?
0:04:53 > 0:04:56I've got to get down? Oh, Jesus.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05- SHE GASPS - It's me!
0:05:06 > 0:05:09# Welcome, welcome Oh, welcome, dear
0:05:09 > 0:05:13# And thank you so much for this dance. #
0:05:13 > 0:05:14- Kiss me, kiss me.- Oh, yeah.
0:05:14 > 0:05:15That's it.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18THEY LAUGH
0:05:21 > 0:05:22You can have one.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33A century later, a very different dance - the minuet -
0:05:33 > 0:05:37would provide those more at home in the court than the countryside with
0:05:37 > 0:05:42exactly the same opportunities for flirtation amid the fancy footwork.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46The minuet was the ultimate social test for upper crust Georgians
0:05:46 > 0:05:48and it's the dance Len
0:05:48 > 0:05:52and I are learning for a performance at our own 18th century ball.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58Len was born with his dancing shoes on, but I need all the help I can
0:05:58 > 0:06:03get, so I'm making a head start and joining a group of minuet novices
0:06:03 > 0:06:09for a lesson with Darren Royston, historical dance teacher at RADA.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12So really get that stretch to the leg. Keeping everything up.
0:06:18 > 0:06:19Hello.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Hi.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Welcome to your class for the minuet.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24Thank you, are you my master?
0:06:24 > 0:06:26I'm your dance master, Darren. Nice to meet you, Lucy.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29- Very nice to meet you.- We're wearing quite nice colours to match.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31Oh, yeah. This all looks very professional.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Look at this, look at this, they're bendy.
0:06:34 > 0:06:35These people are bendy.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42The minuet began life at the court of the French king, Louis XIV,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45and soon became the height of 18th century fashion on this
0:06:45 > 0:06:47side of the Channel.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51It's a French dance, so it's the French that have taught us
0:06:51 > 0:06:53how to open our legs, so...
0:06:53 > 0:06:57here we are with our heels together for the first position, which
0:06:57 > 0:07:01becomes the turnout that's going to be used in classical ballet,
0:07:01 > 0:07:02when it develops.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04So this is the beginning of these positions
0:07:04 > 0:07:06that become standardised.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09We're now going to look at the basic minuet rhythm.
0:07:09 > 0:07:15It's a rhythm of six, but you're going to step only on the first beat
0:07:15 > 0:07:18and then three steps on the three, four, five.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22So it's going to be, one, two, three, four, five, six.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24All we're doing is...
0:07:24 > 0:07:28My dancing is usually completely spontaneous and rather wild,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30it's not the result of hours of careful practice.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35One, two, three, four, five, six and step...
0:07:35 > 0:07:40But the minuet isn't a dance you can just make up as you go along.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42One, two, try again backwards.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45- Oh!- Step, pause, one, two, three.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51The minuet was the 18th century's answer to Strictly Come Dancing,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55as couples performed in front of a crowd of critical onlookers -
0:07:55 > 0:08:00reputations were made - and lost - on the ballroom floor.
0:08:01 > 0:08:02HARPSICORD MUSIC STARTS
0:08:02 > 0:08:04Forward.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Backwards.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25I'm beginning to see why the Georgians loved and loathed
0:08:25 > 0:08:30the minuet in equal measure - it's a fiendishly difficult dance.
0:08:35 > 0:08:36She really concentrated,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39she really wanted to try and be as precise as possible,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41which was great, but I think a dancing master at the time would
0:08:41 > 0:08:44really be concerned that what was happening was that things
0:08:44 > 0:08:46were really stiffening up,
0:08:46 > 0:08:48you know, in the legs and the arms, and she was starting
0:08:48 > 0:08:51to become a little bit of a sort of a dancing mannequin rather than
0:08:51 > 0:08:54a baroque princess, which is what we're really trying to create.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01It's a minor miracle that the minuet did conquer the British
0:09:01 > 0:09:05ballroom because 100 years before its heyday, dancing -
0:09:05 > 0:09:08particularly with a cushion - divided the nation.
0:09:09 > 0:09:15In 1633, one of the staunchest critics of dancing -
0:09:15 > 0:09:16the Puritan William Prynne -
0:09:16 > 0:09:20published his door-stopper, Histriomastix,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24a furious attack on the theatre and on dancing.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Is this a thousand pages of anti-dancing ranting?
0:09:28 > 0:09:32It is, it's an almighty assault upon,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36particularly upon stage plays, but also branching out into many
0:09:36 > 0:09:39other aspects of popular recreations at the time.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44And he does have this hysterical driven section on dancing.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46He talks here about
0:09:46 > 0:09:49"sundry wicked men who have gone dancing down to hell."
0:09:49 > 0:09:51I like that. "Dancing down to hell."
0:09:51 > 0:09:55If you dance, you're damned. That's that is Prynne's message.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00It says here, "It engenders noisome lusts, it occasions dalliance,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03"chambering, wantonness, whoredom,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06"and adultery, both in the dancers and the spectators."
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Yes, so even watching it is likely to lead to kind of,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13you know, horrible desires being fulfilled.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16So dancing is tremendously dangerous
0:10:16 > 0:10:19because of the way it brings men and women together.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23There's one particular case which comes to mind,
0:10:23 > 0:10:29a couple in 1633 who were accused of having sex against the maypole on
0:10:29 > 0:10:31May Day after dancing,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34not realising there was a bell hanging on the top of the Maypole.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37- No way! - So as they were, you know, er,
0:10:37 > 0:10:40as they were at their business, the bells started ringing...
0:10:40 > 0:10:42- They started to ring, did they? - ..ringing rhythmically.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45And this of course brought the neighbours back out again,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47and that's how they got caught.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51But you know, it does kind of rather make the point that,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55you know, there were connections between dancing and sex,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58and it's a perfect case for a Puritan.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Isn't this fantastically like the Daily Mail
0:11:01 > 0:11:03banging on about young people drinking alcopops?
0:11:03 > 0:11:09It is. I mean, you see these things coming back again and again -
0:11:09 > 0:11:13the dangers of...of youthful exuberance.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17And specifically the dangers of youthful exuberance
0:11:17 > 0:11:19when connected with dancing.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23And at times of particular tension, whether it's, you know,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26a socio economic tension or religious tension, it is
0:11:26 > 0:11:29very often one of those things which flares up as a concern.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31You know, this is dangerous.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36I mean, raves in the modern times or rock'n'roll dancing.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39It's there throughout...throughout time, I would say.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Prynne's book caused a sensation because it was
0:11:43 > 0:11:48read as a thinly veiled attack on King Charles I and his wife,
0:11:48 > 0:11:53Henrietta Maria, who was known to enjoy dancing in court masques.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59Prynne paid a terrible price for his implicit criticism of the Royals,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01he was imprisoned in the Tower
0:12:01 > 0:12:05and for good measure, his ears were chopped off, too.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07I find this all very interesting
0:12:07 > 0:12:10because we're shaping up to the Civil Wars here, aren't we?
0:12:10 > 0:12:13And we know that in the Civil War, we get aristocrats on both sides,
0:12:13 > 0:12:17we get ordinary people on both sides, and dancing is something that
0:12:17 > 0:12:20runs like a fault line throughout the whole of society, isn't it?
0:12:20 > 0:12:23From Prynne's point of view, it's a moral issue,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27it's a religious issue, it's right against wrong,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31it's worldliness against godliness, it's purity against impurity.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34And it does run into the Civil War,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37and it's one of the many strands that runs into the Civil War.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40MUSIC: English Civil War by The Levellers
0:12:40 > 0:12:43In the middle of the Civil War, Puritan feeling was
0:12:43 > 0:12:48so strong that Parliament banned the maypole, symbol of dirty dancing.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52After six years of bloody fighting,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55the Parliamentarians defeated the Royalists,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59abolished the monarchy and executed King Charles I.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05BELL RINGS
0:13:05 > 0:13:07The anti-dance lobby were in charge,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11but behind closed doors we never lost the urge to dance.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Ironically, it was at the height of Puritan power
0:13:16 > 0:13:20that the first English dance manual was published.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27If you'd come here to Temple Church at the Inns of Court in 1651
0:13:27 > 0:13:29you could have picked up a copy
0:13:29 > 0:13:33of John Playford's The English Dancing Master hot off the press.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40In his preface, Playford admits that with the Puritans running the
0:13:40 > 0:13:45country, it wasn't the ideal moment to be publishing a book on dancing.
0:13:45 > 0:13:51As he says, "These times and the nature of it do not agree."
0:13:51 > 0:13:53But even in tricky times,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Playford believed that dancing was an essential skill.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02He says it's "a commendable and rare quality, fit for young gentlemen,
0:14:02 > 0:14:07"making the body active and strong, graceful in deportment,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11"and a quality very much beseeming a gentleman."
0:14:11 > 0:14:15As it turned out, Playford was a pretty canny businessman
0:14:15 > 0:14:19and judged the market just right - his book was a hit,
0:14:19 > 0:14:26it remained in print for the next 70 years and went through 17 editions.
0:14:26 > 0:14:27Not bad.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32Playford's dances were so popular
0:14:32 > 0:14:36that they remained a fixture on ballroom floors for decades to come.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40Although they're called country dances,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43they weren't aimed at your average peasant.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Playford had a more upmarket audience in mind -
0:14:46 > 0:14:48the Gentleman of the Inns of Court.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51FIDDLE MUSIC PLAYS
0:14:51 > 0:14:52And forward now.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58- Hello.- Hello.- Do join us.
0:14:58 > 0:14:59I will.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02I'm going to learn one of his dances
0:15:02 > 0:15:05with their 21st century equivalents -
0:15:05 > 0:15:07a group of young barristers -
0:15:07 > 0:15:10in the same spot it might originally have been performed.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Oh! That was lovely.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15I'm glad you enjoyed that.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17So, what are you actually dancing, what is this dance?
0:15:17 > 0:15:21We're working up to doing a dance called Hyde Park.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24- Hyde Park.- Yes.- Oh!
0:15:24 > 0:15:28So, it's from the early edition of Playford's English Dancing Master.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31- May I join you, then? - It would be lovely to have you.
0:15:31 > 0:15:32- Oh, I'd love to.- Yes.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Four ladies and four men.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37- So we need to, er, sort... - Well three men and a boy.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Oh, course.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42I don't know if you'd like to dance with the lady next to you?
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Yes, it would be my pleasure. Lovely to meet you. Oh.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46We've got another couple, I think, there,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and another here and there. So it's a square set
0:15:49 > 0:15:53and the head couples will stand one with their backs to the...
0:15:53 > 0:15:55I'm going to be a head couple, I think. Rather than a head case.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58- And the other head couple facing them.- Thank you.
0:15:58 > 0:15:59And you're on my right.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02And put your lady on your right-hand side always.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05And the side couples on the side couples.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07So that's the square set.
0:16:07 > 0:16:08Lovely.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10I would suggest you hold hands.
0:16:10 > 0:16:11Yes.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13You turn slightly out now.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Gentleman, could you offer...? Like Len has, offered your hand.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18- Oh, see.- Palm up.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Always give the girl the upper hand.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22That's what they have through life.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Very good, yes. Honour your partners.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29MUSIC STARTS
0:16:29 > 0:16:30Head couples.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40By the time Playford brought his book out,
0:16:40 > 0:16:43country dances had been popular for a century.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47They were an essential accomplishment for anyone
0:16:47 > 0:16:49hoping to make their way in the world.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51That's it and...
0:16:53 > 0:16:55Now the change.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Pass each other.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59And through the arch.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06The reverse.
0:17:08 > 0:17:09Hold on, I'll go round here.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11And honour.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14MUSIC STOPS
0:17:14 > 0:17:16Oh, blimey!
0:17:16 > 0:17:19And these people that are learning the dance are barristers,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22is that the sort of people that would have wanted to learn to dance?
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Oh, definitely, they would have been the gentlemen from various
0:17:26 > 0:17:31landed families from all the shires of England, and coming to London
0:17:31 > 0:17:35meant that they could take lessons with the best dancing masters,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39as well as going to good riding schools and fencing schools.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42- There was a sort of a status symbol...- Definitely, yeah.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45..if you could dance well, or if you knew lots of dances.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46Oh, yes, yes.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49How popular were these Playford dances?
0:17:49 > 0:17:52They started as an English vernacular form,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55that's what I would call them, for all society -
0:17:55 > 0:17:58they're not folk dances, they are for everybody.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01- And then the French began visiting England...- Oh!
0:18:01 > 0:18:03..to collect this English country dance
0:18:03 > 0:18:06because they had nothing like it in France at the time.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10So they took the English version back to France
0:18:10 > 0:18:12and then began to develop their own forms of it.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16That spread it all over Europe, and then with emigration
0:18:16 > 0:18:20from England, it went to America, to Australia, New Zealand, even to the
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Caribbean. All over the world, there are traces of the country dance.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Whether it's the waltz, or the tango or the cha-cha-cha,
0:18:29 > 0:18:34we're used to our favourite dances being exotic, foreign imports.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36But Playford's dances were different.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40These dances are a home-grown success story which we've
0:18:40 > 0:18:45forgotten all about, because the irony is that today they're
0:18:45 > 0:18:49much better known abroad than they are here in Britain.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58When Playford's book first appeared, Puritan disapproval had kept
0:18:58 > 0:19:02dancing hidden from public view, but in 1660, the monarchy was
0:19:02 > 0:19:06restored and a golden age of dancing dawned.
0:19:06 > 0:19:12In 1661, Londoners celebrated the coronation of their new king,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Charles II, and one of things they did was to erect,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20on this spot, a massive maypole - 40 metres high.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24It was to replace the one that had been cut down by the Puritans,
0:19:24 > 0:19:2717 years before.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30I think that Charles II - notorious philanderer -
0:19:30 > 0:19:34would have been rather pleased at the sight of this enormous pole
0:19:34 > 0:19:39rising once again, as he came past here on his coronation procession
0:19:39 > 0:19:42from the Tower to Westminster Abbey.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46And this new Strand maypole was richly gilded
0:19:46 > 0:19:50and it had on it the royal coat of arms. The message was that
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Charles was giving old English traditions - like dancing
0:19:54 > 0:19:57round the maypole - his royal seal of approval.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03MUSIC: Fashion by David Bowie
0:20:05 > 0:20:08At Charles's new court, dancing took centre stage,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10and the King was the peacock of the ballroom,
0:20:10 > 0:20:15strutting his stuff in the latest French fashions.
0:20:15 > 0:20:16# Fashion
0:20:16 > 0:20:17# Turn to the left
0:20:17 > 0:20:18# Fashion
0:20:18 > 0:20:20# Turn to the right... #
0:20:20 > 0:20:23At Gamba, they've been making shoes for royalty
0:20:23 > 0:20:27and show business for over a century, and they've made me
0:20:27 > 0:20:31a pair of dancing shoes fit for a 17th century king.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35- Oh, ha, ha.- Hi there.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37- Ah, is this...?- This is, yeah.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38- These the shoes?- Yeah.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40'Charles was six foot two,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44'but that didn't stop him sporting killer heels.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48'This was a king who understood the importance of dressing to impress.'
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Oh, no, look at that! Red heels.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58Now, Helen, ignore this part, obviously.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00What do you think?
0:21:00 > 0:21:01What do you think?
0:21:01 > 0:21:07Fantastic, it is definitely Charles II personified. Perfect!
0:21:07 > 0:21:11And you can see here, Charles II is sitting here in all
0:21:11 > 0:21:16his manliness, in his richness really showing off how his power,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21his masculinity, and sitting really wide legged and really kind of...
0:21:21 > 0:21:25- Yeah.- ..pumping it. But really very high heels.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Yeah, and was that the fashion to have a different coloured
0:21:28 > 0:21:30heel or was it always red?
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Well the red heel comes from the court of Louis XIV.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38Around 1670, he ordered all the courtiers to wear red heels
0:21:38 > 0:21:41as an identifier that you were part of his circle.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Were they made in those days to a similar...
0:21:45 > 0:21:48in a similar way or were they different?
0:21:48 > 0:21:52Well, Len, at the time, they wouldn't have had the shank.
0:21:52 > 0:21:59A shank is a metal band in the sole that distributes the weight.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03So when you have a heel like that and you haven't got the shank,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06you can't really put all the weight on the heel.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08- Oh, right.- So you have to...- Yeah.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11- ..move...- Pitch forward. - Yeah, yeah.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Because otherwise they would collapse, so the heel would just...
0:22:15 > 0:22:16- Oh!- ..go backwards.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19- So they were all mincing around, more-or-less...- Yeah.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22- ..on the balls of their feet?- Yeah. - You're sort of...- You had to.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25- You're sort of mincing along a little bit.- Yes.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27- Yeah.- Exactly.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32And I guess they were ideal for dancing the minuet or whatever...
0:22:32 > 0:22:34- Absolutely.- Yes.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39- Because you had to move...- Yes. - ..much more on toes.- Yes.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43- On the balls of your feet. - I must say, just wearing them here,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46there is a sort of a grace and an elegance about them.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Yes. Exactly, you stand differently.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50- And you stand somehow. Yeah, exactly.- Yeah.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Your posture, I think they should resurrect this style.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56- Get rid of the trainers.- Yes. - And let's get into these.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Absolutely.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01I can't get over admiring my calf.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Yes, well, that's also, because the heel, as we know,
0:23:06 > 0:23:11makes your leg look longer and the calf much rounder,
0:23:11 > 0:23:15- which was a really attractive feature...- Yes.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16..in men at the time.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20If, back then, your calves weren't very well developed,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23was there, you know, was there a way of disguising that?
0:23:23 > 0:23:27You could always improve on nature and you could, you know,
0:23:27 > 0:23:33stuff a little bit of wadding down your socks or stockings.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37And give that rounded desirable effect.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39I would probably have to do a bit of wadding or
0:23:39 > 0:23:43something in my cod-piece - to round it off nicely.
0:23:43 > 0:23:44SHE LAUGHS
0:23:45 > 0:23:50During his time in exile, Charles had stayed at the French court,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52where he'd taken inspiration from his cousin,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55the dance-mad King Louis XIV.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Louis had elevated dancing to a high art,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04and his most accomplished courtiers weren't just expected to master the
0:24:04 > 0:24:09correct steps, but to convey their deepest emotions through dance.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13Ricardo, is it right that as courtier there are some things
0:24:13 > 0:24:14I can't express to you
0:24:14 > 0:24:17if we meet on the stairs or in a corridor,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19but I can express them when we're dancing?
0:24:19 > 0:24:23Absolutely, they were so crushed by all these rules of etiquette -
0:24:23 > 0:24:29how to hold your arm, how to bow deeply if the person you're bowing to
0:24:29 > 0:24:31- is much higher in hierarchy, etc.- Hm.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36With dancing, they could let the hair down because you not only
0:24:36 > 0:24:39could express yourself a bit more, you were expected to.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44So how am I, as a 17th century courtier, going to express
0:24:44 > 0:24:47my passions? What kind of passions can I show?
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Well, you just said exactly the wonderful word, according to the
0:24:51 > 0:24:53Carte des Emotions, were passions.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Dancing is nothing if you just consider the steps,
0:24:56 > 0:25:01you have to express yourself with the eyes, face, gestures
0:25:01 > 0:25:06and convey your passions to the others.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09For instance, if you talk about the courante,
0:25:09 > 0:25:14in one single step, I have at least two emotions,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16in one single step and that's one bar line.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20The courante step, you raise majestically
0:25:20 > 0:25:24but you slide as if sighing.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28So this would be, for instance, Louis XIV saying,
0:25:28 > 0:25:33"I have the power, but I'm just about to fall in love."
0:25:33 > 0:25:35- Oh!- "Cupid is my master."
0:25:35 > 0:25:41What about something tragic and passionate and maybe melancholy?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44OK, sarabande is the dance for you. It's pretty intimate.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48That is the moment to show-off
0:25:48 > 0:25:54your most inner deep secret passions and emotions.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58- They're going to reveal my true soul to them now?- Oh, yes.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00What stories should I be thinking about to get
0:26:00 > 0:26:02myself in character here?
0:26:02 > 0:26:04The dance we're going to be doing is the Entre Dauphin.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09The story is Orpheus going to Hell, trying to rescue Eurydice,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11so the lyrics say...
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Dieux des enfers. Helas! Voyez ma peine.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20"God of Hell, please see my suffering,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24"the one that I love remains chained by you."
0:26:24 > 0:26:27So we need to be channelling Orpheus?
0:26:27 > 0:26:31You're going to use your best rhetoric translated into dancing
0:26:31 > 0:26:35and beg for Eurydice back, and you have to be pretty convincing.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41And sink, raise, two, three.
0:26:43 > 0:26:44Sigh, two, three.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Oh!
0:26:46 > 0:26:48And three steps, dissemination.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50- Hah!- Hesitation.- No, no, no.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Two and three.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Oh, yes.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57One, two, three...
0:26:57 > 0:27:02VIOLIN MUSIC STARTS And sigh, two and three.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04One, two, three, steps.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06One, two, three, hesitation.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09Inside foot.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Outside foot, sigh. Three steps.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17Hesitation again. Huh!
0:27:18 > 0:27:20Huh, huh.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29Learning to dance really well gave you undeniable sex appeal.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35But when the diarist, Samuel Pepys, and his wife,
0:27:35 > 0:27:39Elisabeth, let a dashing young dancing master into their house,
0:27:39 > 0:27:44they discovered a darker side to the passions dancing aroused.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Pepys's wife, Elisabeth, had been hassling him
0:27:49 > 0:27:51to get her dancing lessons.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55She was ashamed that she couldn't do it very well. And this was to
0:27:55 > 0:27:59do with class, too - she felt that it was a posh skill for her to have.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03So Pepys engaged a dancing master called Francis Pembleton.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Pepys described him as "a pretty neat black man,"
0:28:06 > 0:28:10but in the 17th century this just means that he had dark hair.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13In no time at all, Pembleton was in the house twice a day
0:28:13 > 0:28:16giving lessons, and Pepys was getting jealous.
0:28:30 > 0:28:37"Friday, 15th May, 1663. Home, where I found it almost night,
0:28:37 > 0:28:41"and my wife and the dancing master alone above,
0:28:41 > 0:28:43"not dancing but talking.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50"Now so deadly full of jealousy I am that my heart and head did
0:28:50 > 0:28:57"so cast about and fret that I could not do any business possibly."
0:28:57 > 0:28:58HE SIGHS
0:28:58 > 0:29:03Now Pepys knew that dancing masters had a dodgy reputation.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07One 17th century play describes how they'd be handling your thighs
0:29:07 > 0:29:10and seeing your legs as they positioned your feet.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15"But I am ashamed to think what a course I did take by lying,
0:29:15 > 0:29:20"to see whether my wife did wear drawers today as she used to do,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23"and other things to raise my suspicions of her."
0:29:26 > 0:29:28Luckily for Elisabeth, she was wearing drawers.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30Pepys was proved wrong,
0:29:30 > 0:29:34but that didn't stop him from continuing to spy on her.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39"Sunday, 24th of May, 1663. At church.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44"Over against our gallery, I espied Pembleton...
0:29:45 > 0:29:51"..And saw him leer upon my wife all the sermon, and I observed she
0:29:51 > 0:29:57"made a curtsey to him on coming out without taking notice of me at all."
0:29:57 > 0:29:59HE SIGHS
0:29:59 > 0:30:03By this time, you do get the sense that Elisabeth was maybe teasing her
0:30:03 > 0:30:08husband, winding him up by flirting with the handsome dancing master.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13Eventually Pepys exploded with rage and he put his foot down.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15No more dancing lessons.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21For the next two centuries, dancing masters played
0:30:21 > 0:30:24an indispensable role in polite society,
0:30:24 > 0:30:29but they were often regarded with barely disguised disgust.
0:30:29 > 0:30:34Many of them were French and were seen as sleazy foreigners who would
0:30:34 > 0:30:38take any opportunity to get up close and personal with their pupils.
0:30:39 > 0:30:44These dodgy lotharios became favourite figures of fun,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48mocked for their ridiculous hair, their excessive frills
0:30:48 > 0:30:49and their heavy make-up.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54# Je vais et je viens... #
0:30:54 > 0:30:59The complaints about 18th dance masters sound pretty familiar.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02You know, sometimes my colleagues are thought of as being a little
0:31:02 > 0:31:06bit camp, a little bit over the top, however ever compared to
0:31:06 > 0:31:10those poor 18th century dance masters, we've got it easy.
0:31:10 > 0:31:16You know back then, they were called the scum and the dregs of the earth.
0:31:16 > 0:31:17Liberty!
0:31:19 > 0:31:24And one, two, three, four, five, six.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26You do it so dainty!
0:31:26 > 0:31:28You do it dainty. You are, you know, you are.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31- You've got that dainty look. - But it still has...
0:31:31 > 0:31:34Dainty in the feet, but stronger in the upper body.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38By the beginning of the 18th century, anyone who was anyone
0:31:38 > 0:31:41had to know how to dance the minuet.
0:31:42 > 0:31:47We'll be facing our own trial by minuet at our Georgian ball,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51so dancing master Darren Royston is busy reining in my more
0:31:51 > 0:31:53flamboyant tendencies.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55One, two, three, four...
0:31:55 > 0:31:57- No, I know I went... - You're presenting too much.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59Yes, I'm going, "Oh, look at her, fantastic."
0:31:59 > 0:32:02- You're going to be able to do that later in the dance.- Oh, good.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04But at the beginning, it's all very collected.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Once I think about the hands, the feet go straight out the window.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09- Let's forget about the hands for a minute.- Yes.
0:32:09 > 0:32:10And go back to the feet.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15And, one, two, three, four, five, six. Think of the turn out.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Think of the vertical. And one...
0:32:17 > 0:32:18Stay where you are
0:32:18 > 0:32:22and now do a balance to the right, balance, and balance.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25But you still have to because this is La Belle Dance,
0:32:25 > 0:32:29the noble dance, you have to keep everything in its first position.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32So if you were doing this, you'd be called grotesque,
0:32:32 > 0:32:34OK, because you, you were actually turning.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37- I'd hate that if they'd said, "Look at him."- But it's because...
0:32:37 > 0:32:40- You have to keep that openness to show your nobility.- Yes.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42So, remember, the mirrors are there in Versailles
0:32:42 > 0:32:43- for Louis XIV, so...- Yes.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46- You've got this whole idea of seeing yourself.- Oh!
0:32:46 > 0:32:51So you step, keeping that openness with the legs.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54Are there going to be other people doing it at the same time?
0:32:54 > 0:32:56- No.- Oh, good. Cos then there's no-one to compare with.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59- It's just you and Lucy, because the dance...- Oh, good.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01..where the two people are being tested.
0:33:01 > 0:33:02I thought there would be
0:33:02 > 0:33:04all these lovely, floaty people, all in their...
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Well there are around, but they'll be criticising you.
0:33:07 > 0:33:08Liberty.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10Do you know what that's like?
0:33:10 > 0:33:15No, I've only been on the side where we do the criticising. And...
0:33:15 > 0:33:17And one, two, three...
0:33:17 > 0:33:20'Ballroom dancing is all about keeping your feet perfectly
0:33:20 > 0:33:25'parallel, so learning to turn them out feels completely unnatural.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27'I'm so lucky I've got Darren here to hold my hand.'
0:33:27 > 0:33:29- Now on the side.- Yes.
0:33:29 > 0:33:35Right and behind, side, front, and right, keep going that way.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37- You have to be up on your toes. - Right.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40So you step, turn and step.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44That's it, except you have to always be...
0:33:44 > 0:33:47a noble style, that is the vulgar grotesque way.
0:33:47 > 0:33:52I love the words, the grotesque and the noble.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57I'm going to leave it to you people to decide which I am.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01- Very good. Now shall I show you some hopping minuet steps?- No.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04It did get quite stressful for him really.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07It's very different to what he's been doing before.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11And of course, he's on show - the legs are on show in this time.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13It's not...that's what's important.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17So he is going to have to kind of really practice that.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20Dancing masters of the time might have sort of called it
0:34:20 > 0:34:22dancing grotesque because he's turning the legs the other way.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31Once, the country had been split between those who danced
0:34:31 > 0:34:33and those who didn't,
0:34:33 > 0:34:37but by the 18th century, dancing had lost its dubious reputation
0:34:37 > 0:34:41and the new sensation of the age - assembly rooms -
0:34:41 > 0:34:46were opening up the ballroom floor to more people than ever before.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50When the rooms here in York opened in 1732,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53they were the most magnificent in the country.
0:34:54 > 0:34:59When York Assembly Rooms opened, the subscription to belong was £25 -
0:34:59 > 0:35:02that's £2,000 today.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06But you could also - for sixpence - sneak up onto this roof,
0:35:06 > 0:35:08in order to look through the window
0:35:08 > 0:35:11and spy on what was going on down there.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15And what they saw through this window was pretty much
0:35:15 > 0:35:19a revolution on that dance floor, because this was Britain's
0:35:19 > 0:35:23first purpose-built public space for dancing in.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27It was public in the sense that admission didn't depend on
0:35:27 > 0:35:32your title, or who you knew, it all came down to your ability to pay.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36So this was a little step towards democracy in dancing.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43For this totally new type of gathering, the architect
0:35:43 > 0:35:49Lord Burlington designed the first neoclassical building in Britain.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54Burlington's brief was to create a room 90 feet long with somewhere
0:35:54 > 0:36:00for taking tea, somewhere for playing cards and a pissing place.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04Other than that, he was allowed to do whatever he wanted.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09So he modelled his masterpiece on an Ancient Egyptian hall - adapting
0:36:09 > 0:36:14it to the Yorkshire weather with the addition of a roof and walls.
0:36:14 > 0:36:20Everyone who aspired to be anyone was eager to bankroll the project.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23So all of these people together paid for it to be built.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Yeah, raising about £6,000.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28And how would you characterise these people,
0:36:28 > 0:36:29they're not all dukes, are they?
0:36:29 > 0:36:34There are five dukes, a dozen earls, but half of them
0:36:34 > 0:36:40are general merchant adventurers or trades, Dr Cook, for example.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44The Thompson family gave as much as the Burlington family.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47They were traders, mostly in wines.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49- A plain gentleman, look at him...- Yes.
0:36:49 > 0:36:50Richard Lawson, just a gentleman.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53Would you say that this represents a sort of opening up of
0:36:53 > 0:36:55Georgian society, a collapsing of the hierarchy?
0:36:55 > 0:37:01I think it's a wonderful, egalitarian approach to assembly,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03to allow people to aspire.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09From Newcastle to Newmarket, Bath to Birmingham,
0:37:09 > 0:37:13assembly rooms became a fixture of every Georgian town.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18Dancing was only part of the draw - alongside the minueting
0:37:18 > 0:37:23there was plenty of meeting and greeting and wheeling and dealing.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25- There is...- What's all this in front of the columns there?
0:37:25 > 0:37:27This isn't here anymore.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30- These benches were originally hard up against the wall.- Right.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33And that was the big problem at the beginning
0:37:33 > 0:37:35because most people sitting on the benches couldn't...
0:37:35 > 0:37:38- They couldn't see? - They couldn't see what was going on.
0:37:38 > 0:37:39The columns were in the way.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42But more importantly, they could not be seen.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Oh, right, OK.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48In the 1750s, the corporation realised that they had
0:37:48 > 0:37:52to do something about it, so they moved the benches to the front.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54Who was sitting on the benches, ladies?
0:37:54 > 0:37:56The ladies waiting to be asked to dance.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00- Oh, so it was like a shop window, choose your lady.- Very much so!
0:38:02 > 0:38:04The surroundings were more sumptuous
0:38:04 > 0:38:07but the true purpose of the minuet at the assembly rooms was just
0:38:07 > 0:38:11the same as the Cushion Dance on the village green.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16But instead of choosing your own dancing partner,
0:38:16 > 0:38:20a Master of Ceremonies made the introductions, pairing up
0:38:20 > 0:38:24couples on the dance floor, who often ended up as partners for life.
0:38:26 > 0:38:27This local lady writes that
0:38:27 > 0:38:31"there's an extraordinarily good choice at the assembly rooms,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34"200 pieces of women's flesh, fat and lean."
0:38:34 > 0:38:38Oh, yes, there were many, many occasions where
0:38:38 > 0:38:41deals were done and marriages were made.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44So this was essentially a meat market,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47but it has to be the most elegant one in Europe.
0:38:47 > 0:38:48I think you're right.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53As we prepare to run the gauntlet of our Georgian ball,
0:38:53 > 0:38:57our manners will be as important as our minueting.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00This was a world so regimented
0:39:00 > 0:39:04and refined that one step out of line could spell disaster.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08Fortunately, plenty of 18th century authors were on hand
0:39:08 > 0:39:11to help the socially awkward.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Our bible for today's deportment lesson is
0:39:15 > 0:39:20The Rudiments Of Genteel Behaviour, by Francois Nivelon.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24The book really covers how to comport yourself in polite society -
0:39:24 > 0:39:28how to stand, how to walk, how to bow
0:39:28 > 0:39:31and just a few things about how to dance the minuet.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35Oh, golly, so this is pre-dancing, we haven't even got that far?
0:39:35 > 0:39:39No, there's a lot to learn before you dance a step.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43I think one of the things is I probably need to swap you over, so
0:39:43 > 0:39:47that the lady is on the gentleman's right, in the place of honour.
0:39:47 > 0:39:48- Ah, OK.- Ah!
0:39:51 > 0:39:53It says here, Len, you've got to have
0:39:53 > 0:39:57"manly boldness in the face, tempered with becoming modesty."
0:39:57 > 0:40:00- Precisely.- I've got that.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03I've got that already, it's just a fluke of nature.
0:40:03 > 0:40:10And of course, the humility of your face might mask deeper emotions,
0:40:10 > 0:40:16and it's important not to show deeper emotions in a social situation.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20So if I was in the assembly halls and there was
0:40:20 > 0:40:24quite a nice looking girl over there with a fan in her hand,
0:40:24 > 0:40:27- I wouldn't be sort of leering or... - Definitely not.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30You may wish very much to be introduced to her,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34- but you wouldn't show by the merest flicker...- Hm.
0:40:34 > 0:40:35- ..of expression...- Yeah.
0:40:35 > 0:40:41- ..that your interest was other than polite.- Of course.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46So the first thing you need to do is offer her your hand to take,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49and it's not just a question of going...
0:40:49 > 0:40:50Come here, girl.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54It really needs to have an extra motion.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56Oh, yes, look.
0:40:56 > 0:41:03She will place her hand in yours with a small circular motion.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Oh, round the front.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08LEN WHISTLES
0:41:08 > 0:41:11I think without the whistle would be better.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16You can quite understand why this all died out really, can't you?
0:41:20 > 0:41:24So, the gentleman has the lady under his thumb.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26Oh, I don't like that.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28OK, girl, let's go for a stroll.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32See, a nice stroll along, a little walk, down we come.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36- Remember your posture.- Yes. - Oh, yeah, yeah, forgot that.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40Walk a little slower, smaller steps,
0:41:40 > 0:41:46an elegant extension of the leg, turn out your feet.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49Would this be the sort of speed that we would be going at generally?
0:41:51 > 0:41:52Never in a hurry.
0:41:52 > 0:41:57Never in a hurry, not too fast and not too slow.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01Remember, you are here to see and to be seen.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Moira, I think Len's wiggling his hips. Huh!
0:42:06 > 0:42:07Never, no.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10- No hip wiggling. - Are we doing well?
0:42:10 > 0:42:14You're doing very much better than you did when we started.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16I guess we're nearly there.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18Are you pleased with me, Moira?
0:42:18 > 0:42:22I think you're splendid, absolutely splendid!
0:42:27 > 0:42:29For the dancing masters of the day,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32the notoriously tricky minuet was big business.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37And to find out how my 18th century counterparts taught it,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40I've come to the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45In 1735, one of the country's leading dance masters -
0:42:45 > 0:42:49Kellom Tomlinson - published The Art Of Dancing,
0:42:49 > 0:42:52a lavishly illustrated how-to guide to the minuet.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Well, Jennifer, to be honest with you,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01I've studied dance manuals for 50 years
0:43:01 > 0:43:05and I haven't got a clue what any of this means.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07Well it takes a while to get used to it
0:43:07 > 0:43:10because it's telling you different things all at once.
0:43:10 > 0:43:16On this particular plate, he's set out the basics of Beauchamps-Feuillet
0:43:16 > 0:43:21notation, which was a dance notation system in common use by his day.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26A different symbol indicated every movement of the foot -
0:43:26 > 0:43:29a sink, a rise, a bound.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33These were put together to form steps with a line showing
0:43:33 > 0:43:35the dancer's floor pattern -
0:43:35 > 0:43:40providing all the ingredients for the perfect minuet
0:43:40 > 0:43:43And what exactly is going on here with all of, you know,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45what are they doing?
0:43:45 > 0:43:47I can see they're attempting to dance,
0:43:47 > 0:43:49but there's a lot more going on than that.
0:43:49 > 0:43:50There's a lot going on.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53This is actually from the end of the dance, where they're
0:43:53 > 0:43:56going to come towards each other and take a two hand turn.
0:43:56 > 0:43:57- Ho!- Exactly.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00I've been told about this, and I'm looking forward to it.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02So they're just coming in for the climax.
0:44:02 > 0:44:03That's right, yeah.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07And what you've got here, this is where Tomlinson is so clever.
0:44:07 > 0:44:12He's given the music along the top of the page.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15So that you know how much music is required.
0:44:15 > 0:44:20He's written along the floor in Beauchamps-Feuillet notation,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23- so you see that they're going to come in...- Yes.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26..and make a circle before turning to face the front again
0:44:26 > 0:44:29to make their final bows and curtseys.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33- And you'll see that they're making very close eye contact.- Hm.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36This dancing was very, very subtle.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39The only time you made physical contact with your partner
0:44:39 > 0:44:41was when you took hands.
0:44:41 > 0:44:46You know they look so comfortable in their faces,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49you know, so calm, but I would imagine that
0:44:49 > 0:44:52their hearts are pounding at this point.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56Oh, I think so because, apart from anything else,
0:44:56 > 0:45:00this dance was danced one couple at a time with everybody else watching
0:45:00 > 0:45:03and probably passing snide comments as well,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06if they didn't like either of the dancers.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10My expectations were that seeing this book would help me in
0:45:10 > 0:45:14my quest to do a fantastic minuet, but I think actually
0:45:14 > 0:45:17- it's just filled me with dread because there is...- That...
0:45:17 > 0:45:21- ..so much to it.- That is a very 18th century reaction.
0:45:21 > 0:45:26And in fact, in the end, people had a love-hate relationship with
0:45:26 > 0:45:30this dance, because they knew they had to dance it well.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33They did not like the amount of work they had to put into it
0:45:33 > 0:45:36or the fact that it was quite complicated.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39And particularly in the English ballroom, there was huge
0:45:39 > 0:45:43- problems getting men to get up and dance the minuet.- Hm.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45- And we can see why.- Yes.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54We've got just one dance class left before we show off our minuet
0:45:54 > 0:45:56in public and, at long last,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00I can get my hands on the Ginger to my Fred.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03So I've finally got you both in the same room and so we can now
0:46:03 > 0:46:08really do what is the minuet, a dance 'a deux' for a man and a woman
0:46:08 > 0:46:11- OK.- So the first thing is the final connection that
0:46:11 > 0:46:15happens in the minuet, they're kind of soaring in to meet
0:46:15 > 0:46:18and you're going to be as far away from each other as you can be.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20So if, Lucy, you go over to this corner.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23- And Len comes over here. - Yeah.- Aeroplanes in.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26They wouldn't have called them aeroplane arms
0:46:26 > 0:46:28in the 18th century, it's just that this picture
0:46:28 > 0:46:30- looks like they're doing something like that.- Yeah.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33They're actually finding that glide and lift,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36- a bit like an eagle soaring in. - Yeah, soaring in.- Soaring in, OK.
0:46:36 > 0:46:37OK, soar.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Don't go too high too soon. OK, and back.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Then you're seeing each other, you're starting that,
0:46:44 > 0:46:45exactly and just... THEY BOTH GASP
0:46:45 > 0:46:47Just as you've done that. LUCY GASPS AGAIN
0:46:47 > 0:46:48No, but you've got to go round.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51Exactly, you've got to resist that temptation.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54And as you see is it, that lift is going to start low down.
0:46:54 > 0:46:55So we're going...
0:46:55 > 0:46:57One, two, stroke, li...
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Gradually lifting. Two.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03And by two, you need to have landed on his arms.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06- Oh! Hang on, so pretty quick. - It's pretty quick.- Ah!
0:47:06 > 0:47:10- And, Lucy, you never turn your back - Never turn your back on Louis XIV.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13- Never turn your back. - I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
0:47:13 > 0:47:14Guillotine. No.
0:47:14 > 0:47:15So that's the technique now.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18It's always to keep your eyes on your partner.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21- What I'm going to teach you now is the 'Z' pattern.- Right.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24This is the most important pattern in the minuet.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29It's based on the serpentine 'S.' So you're making an 'S' shape.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33But how the dancing masters taught it is by telling people to make a 'Z.'
0:47:33 > 0:47:35- Right.- Cos then it was very clear.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37- It's almost as if this is a river. - Right.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41And you're going to cross it, so you can't swim, you've got to stay dry.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43Now you're on the edge of that river.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46You want to cross, but you've gone into the river bed,
0:47:46 > 0:47:48see what I mean, so you stay on a very straight line.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51- Very straight.- And now you're going to cross the river
0:47:51 > 0:47:53because there's a bridge all of a sudden, yes.
0:47:53 > 0:47:54OK, the bridge is here.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57So as you come, you're meeting each other, straight, straight.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59That's it, you don't touch, you just pass.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01And you don't turn your back on your partner,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04- so you keep turning that way until you get to where Lucy...- Was.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06Was, over there, and where Len was.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Now crossing, one, two, three, four.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12That's it, good, good, yes, yes, that's it, and keep going...
0:48:12 > 0:48:15- Oh, apart again. - And then back to your partner.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18When the hell are we ever going to get together and we link arms?
0:48:18 > 0:48:19The next bit, the next bit.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21But you've got to get the tension between you.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24- Oh, yes.- That was the shape of it, that was to get that going.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26Yes, looking at each other.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29No. Yes, feel that feel that tension, the space, the distance.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32Yes, now we can see it. Yes, lovely. Now, you want to meet her, don't you?
0:48:32 > 0:48:34Yes, I do, I can't wait to get my hands on her.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37You're only allowed to get one hand at a time.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40- And it's my right one?- And it's the right hand first.- So we go.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43So we come round and you're going to offer your right hand.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46- You could take right hands. - But it's more...
0:48:46 > 0:48:49But the most genteel is you're just linking wrists.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53'The minuet might look terribly formal and frigid.
0:48:53 > 0:48:54'But like all dances,
0:48:54 > 0:48:58'it was designed to bring courting couples together.'
0:48:58 > 0:49:01And now the two hands that you practised earlier, in you come.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04'In a dance with scarcely any physical contact, imagine how
0:49:04 > 0:49:08'thrilling even the slightest touch of the hand would be.'
0:49:08 > 0:49:10And now three...
0:49:10 > 0:49:12And round, opening up.
0:49:12 > 0:49:19One backwards, one, two, three, four, and step to bow.
0:49:19 > 0:49:20So that's the whole dance?
0:49:20 > 0:49:22That's the whole dance in the version we're going to do.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25- It could go on longer... - No, no, no, don't, don't.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27But the 'Z' pattern is like a chorus...
0:49:27 > 0:49:29- Yes, no, we want... - ..that you have to get right.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32- Everybody is watching how you organise your space.- OK.- OK.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35OK, so that was quite a momentous moment having Len and Lucy
0:49:35 > 0:49:38together because of course we've been training Lucy up.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43And you know she's so wanting to get the steps so precise that, of course,
0:49:43 > 0:49:45I think it was a bit of a shock then with Len
0:49:45 > 0:49:48so fluid, putting the two together.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Erm, I'm a little bit worried because that's going to...
0:49:51 > 0:49:54They've both got to think about the space that they're dancing in
0:49:54 > 0:49:56and not lose sight of each other.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58Both of them had to really work hard to keep that
0:49:58 > 0:50:01idea of the space of where they were dancing.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08'When it came to cutting the perfect figure on the ballroom floor,
0:50:08 > 0:50:12'a Georgian lady's secret weapon was her wardrobe.'
0:50:12 > 0:50:13# I feel pretty
0:50:13 > 0:50:15# Oh, so pretty
0:50:15 > 0:50:18# I feel pretty and witty and bright... #
0:50:18 > 0:50:21'Her dresses were ingeniously engineered to enforce
0:50:21 > 0:50:25'the rigid posture demanded by the minuet.'
0:50:25 > 0:50:26Breathe in.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30I've straight-laced myself as opposed to cross lacing
0:50:30 > 0:50:33because cross lacing is easier to undo
0:50:33 > 0:50:36- and therefore it's only used by prostitutes.- Quite right.
0:50:36 > 0:50:38And also, you've got a back lace corset,
0:50:38 > 0:50:41which is very much the symbol of the upper classes,
0:50:41 > 0:50:43who would have required a servant
0:50:43 > 0:50:46to have done this job for them, of course.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48What's the next layer?
0:50:48 > 0:50:51- OK, well you need one final addition to your corset.- OK.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55We need to include one of these, this is the busk.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59That one's rather beautiful, it looks carved like a totem pole.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03It is, this would have been carved by a lover for his fiancee, perhaps.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07Huh! That's rude, he's saying I want to be between your breasts.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Very possibly, but perhaps we could interpret it as,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13- I'd like to be close to your heart. - Oh, OK, that's nicer. Yes, OK.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15So he's put a lot of effort into doing that.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19He has, you've got hearts carved into this part here,
0:51:19 > 0:51:21we've probably got her initials there at the front.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23That would be stuck down here.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26It would, there would be a sleeve that it runs into
0:51:26 > 0:51:28and this is going to mean that you can't lean forward at all.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31There's something a bit S&M about all of this, isn't there?
0:51:31 > 0:51:35It's about inflexibility, and all about creating that
0:51:35 > 0:51:38wonderful graceful line that you will be cutting on the dance floor.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40That's the way to look at it.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42- Petticoat time.- It is.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44Right, arm coming through.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48This is going to be the one that's actually visible to the public.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50So even though it's called a petticoat,
0:51:50 > 0:51:53which we traditionally associate with being an undergarment,
0:51:53 > 0:51:57this is very much made to be visible and on display.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Now these sleeves seem a funny shape,
0:52:04 > 0:52:07they're not straight like normal sleeves, are they?
0:52:07 > 0:52:10No, they'll feel quite different, set a bit further back
0:52:10 > 0:52:11and with a bit of a curve in them,
0:52:11 > 0:52:14which is all again trying to help give you the right posture
0:52:14 > 0:52:18for creating again that fine line and elegant appearance.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22It's like some cruel ballet master has taken over the world
0:52:22 > 0:52:25and is trying to get everybody to stand like that, right?
0:52:25 > 0:52:28Yes, it's all about posture and having your shoulders back,
0:52:28 > 0:52:32correct deportment and standing elegantly.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39I'm embarrassed that poor Hannah's having to get so intimate with me.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Right, here we go.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47- Yay, that's going in.- That's it.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49I think I look pretty fabulous.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54And I think a lot of people would think that the Georgians
0:52:54 > 0:52:57should look paler than this, more sort of pale pinks and baby blues.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00I think that's a common misconception.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03This was about making a statement, a statement of wealth.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05But also bearing in mind the candle light,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07by which they would be dancing.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10You needed really gaudy fabrics
0:53:10 > 0:53:13and distinctive contrast to actually see all that detail.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17And look at all these little sparkly sequins that are set into it,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20that must have glittered in the light of the candles.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26Our day of judgment has finally arrived.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32Lucy and I are preparing to debut our minuet at our very own
0:53:32 > 0:53:34Georgian pile - Syon Park.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38Where we're hoping to pass muster
0:53:38 > 0:53:41with an audience of expert minueteers.
0:53:43 > 0:53:44Ooh, look at you!
0:53:44 > 0:53:50Oh, yes. Oh, yes - very George III.
0:53:50 > 0:53:51At least they won't be able to see my feet
0:53:51 > 0:53:53cos they'll be hidden under my dress.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56- But yours will be on display. - I'm not too worried about my feet.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59It's just where they're going is the concern.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01SHE LAUGHS
0:54:01 > 0:54:03I'm hoping now I won't get in trouble for looking at my feet
0:54:03 > 0:54:06cos I won't be able to see them, they're going to be hidden
0:54:06 > 0:54:07- under my skirt.- Yeah, all tucked up.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11In fact, you could have faked it and had sort of a hovercraft effect.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13You know, under there and you could just...
0:54:13 > 0:54:15I could be on a trolley and you could be pulling me.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17Yeah, and you could have just been led along.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23There's so much to think about - the steps, the floor pattern
0:54:23 > 0:54:26and all the subtleties of how you connect with your partner.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31I now understand why the Georgians were terrified of the minuet.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36After hours of coaching by Darren, new shoes,
0:54:36 > 0:54:42new hair and a lot more leg then I usually show, all eyes are on us.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48MUSIC STARTS
0:56:04 > 0:56:07(Over to my corner. That way.)
0:56:27 > 0:56:30APPLAUSE
0:56:30 > 0:56:31Thank you.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35We got all the way through!
0:56:35 > 0:56:38I didn't know where I was.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40MUSIC STARTS
0:56:44 > 0:56:46So do you think we got a ten, then?
0:56:46 > 0:56:49I don't think it would have been a ten from Len,
0:56:49 > 0:56:51and I don't think it would have been a seven.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54I think you were a good six.
0:56:54 > 0:56:56A good six, oh, I'll take that.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59And I was probably more a four.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02Cos I was watching you to see where you were going
0:57:02 > 0:57:04and just copying you, more or less.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06Except when I led you astray.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08You did lead me astray, you naughty girl.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11They kept trying to hang onto the style, which was good,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14but they didn't really get all those figures that were so important.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16The symmetry went a little bit and
0:57:16 > 0:57:19they would be criticised for that quite heavily.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25We are used to fashionable dances coming
0:57:25 > 0:57:29and going in the twinkling of an eye, so it's quite amazing that the
0:57:29 > 0:57:33minuet was everybody's favourite dance for 100 years.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36But by the end of the 18th century though, people were starting to
0:57:36 > 0:57:40get bored of it and there was a new craze just around the corner.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42Of course they were getting fed up with the dance,
0:57:42 > 0:57:44they wanted something a bit more fun, they wanted to have
0:57:44 > 0:57:47something a bit more physical. However, do you know what?
0:57:47 > 0:57:50I wouldn't mind just one more go at it. What do you think?
0:57:50 > 0:57:52- The last minuet. Yes.- Come on.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54THEY LAUGH
0:57:54 > 0:57:59Next time, we'll be getting to grips with a rustic dance that
0:57:59 > 0:58:02revolutionized the stuffy Victorian ballroom.
0:58:03 > 0:58:07On the day, could I dance perhaps with you?
0:58:07 > 0:58:13In this age of innovation, dancing became fast, frantic and giddy.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16You've lost control of your vehicle, sir.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20Etiquette was everything and we'll be following the strict
0:58:20 > 0:58:24rules of the dance floor to dazzle at a high society ball.
0:58:24 > 0:58:28Ladies and gentlemen, the new dance - the polka!