***PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO THE STORM, THIS PROGRAM WILL TAKE PLACE BY ZOOM ONLY***

Join David Millstone, Upper Valley dance caller extraordinaire, for a talk on English country dance in Jane Austen's day. Register for Zoom here.

Social dancing is featured throughout Jane Austen's novels; indeed, the author herself was an enthusiastic dancer in her youth. This multi-media presentation provides a brief history of the dance form from its roots in the mid-seventeenth century; we'll pay particular attention to English country dance as it was done in Austen's lifetime some 150 years later. Participants will come away with a deeper appreciation of the important role that dance and dance events have for the characters in Austen's novels. You'll also appreciate some of the nuances of the dancing at our upcoming Jane Austen Ball!

David Millstone fell in love with English country dance at Pinewoods Camp in 1987; he has been leading ECD for the past thirty years, including a monthly dance in Norwich, VT. A staff member at dance camps around the country and in Europe, he was president of Country Dance and Song Society for six years. A Visiting Scholar in the Music Department at Dartmouth, he has written and presented extensively on different aspects of country dance history.