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Edward Scott: The Last of the English Dancing Masters

Edward Scott: The Last of the English Dancing Masters Theresa Jill Buckland From the mediaeval period to the early twentieth century, fashionable European dance culture was quietly dominated by the figure of the dancing master. For several centuries, he had played a pivotal role in crossing the terrains of theatre, court and the wider social sphere, disseminating and sometimes creating new dance fashions while acting as advocate for the social, artistic and historical value of the art of dancing.1 His slow decline in influence was finally marked by the complete severance of the technique of social dancing from its basis in ballet during the early 1900s. Instead of the turned-out foot positions and melodic musical accompaniment of the old European style, a more democratised dancing public sought an accessible mode of dancing, enlivened by the syncopation of African-American rhythms. Although efforts were made in England, after the First World War, to infuse the new with the old, popular acceptance of the jazz age in dance and music, sounded the death knell of the Victorian dancing master. Parallel to dance as a theatre art, social dancing in the late Victorian and Edwardian era was irreversibly separated from established traditions. In the analyses of dance from this period, much http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Dance Research Edinburgh University Press

Edward Scott: The Last of the English Dancing Masters

Buckland, Theresa Jill
Dance Research , Volume 21 (2): 3 – Oct 1, 2003
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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press
ISSN
0264-2875
eISSN
1750-0095
DOI
10.3366/3594050
Publisher site
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Abstract

Theresa Jill Buckland From the mediaeval period to the early twentieth century, fashionable European dance culture was quietly dominated by the figure of the dancing master. For several centuries, he had played a pivotal role in crossing the terrains of theatre, court and the wider social sphere, disseminating and sometimes creating new dance fashions while acting as advocate for the social, artistic and historical value of the art of dancing.1 His slow decline in influence was finally marked by the complete severance of the technique of social dancing from its basis in ballet during the early 1900s. Instead of the turned-out foot positions and melodic musical accompaniment of the old European style, a more democratised dancing public sought an accessible mode of dancing, enlivened by the syncopation of African-American rhythms. Although efforts were made in England, after the First World War, to infuse the new with the old, popular acceptance of the jazz age in dance and music, sounded the death knell of the Victorian dancing master. Parallel to dance as a theatre art, social dancing in the late Victorian and Edwardian era was irreversibly separated from established traditions. In the analyses of dance from this period, much

Journal

Dance Research – Edinburgh University Press

Published: Oct 1, 2003

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