The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers

An Introduction to
The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers

Experience the elegance and charm of yesterday's ballroom when society was in its heyday and dance was a favorite pastime. Since 1983, the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers have been reconstructing, performing and teaching social dances of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries.

Combining exquisite costuming with a fine sense of period manners, style and customs, the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers bring to life the most popular dances of their day. In addition to providing performances of these dances, the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers can help organize and run Grand Balls, Tea Dances, Garden Parties and other period amusements. We are experienced at teaching classes and leading workshops for beginner through advanced dancers. Each summer our company hosts the Newport Vintage Dance Week, a week-long extravaganza of dance and amusements in and around the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island.

The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers perform the dances of three major periods: the Mid-Nineteenth Century (the 1850-60's), the Late Nineteenth Century (the 1890's), and the Ragtime Era (1900-1920's). Each of these has its own distinctive style of dance, costume, and etiquette.

Our Mid-Nineteenth Century program features the well-established dances of the period, the Waltz and Quadrille (a genteel ancestor of today's square dance), as well as the more "modern" Polka and new exotic waltz variations such as the Zingerella, Varsovienne, and Koska. The emphasis is on graceful movement and manners as ladies in authentically reproduced hoop-skirted ball gowns glide through steps and figures with their partners.

To capture the elegance of the Late Nineteenth Century, our ladies wear richly colored evening gowns, with flowing skirts and extravagantly puffed sleeves. The Waltz and Polka retain their popularity, but the variations have multiplied in number and in complexity. Our presentation of the dances of the 1890's is perfect for centennial celebrations.

In addition to the evening dress of the 1890's, CVD also performs in day wear of the period, perfect for Summer teas and outdoor parties. Ladies in white gowns, with puffed sleeves, large parasols and bedecked straw hats are complimented nicely by the gentlemen in crisp white suits and straw boaters; all perfectly suited to doing a lovely Waltz or lively Cake-Walk.

The Ragtime Era saw the rise of a new style of lively, syncopated music. We capture the delightful exuberance of the period in our performance of the "most up to date" dances: Animal dances (Turkey Trot, Grizzly Bear, Lame Duck, etc.), Tango, and Hesitation Waltz. The gowns are brightly colored and elaborately draped which mirrors the liveliness of the dances and music.

Our company has taken part in a variety of festivals and events including: Boston's "First Night," the Statue of Liberty Summer Festival, Cambridge River Festival, the New England Antique Boat Show, and the Boston 4th of July Celebration on the Esplanade. We have performed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the New England Conservatory of Music, the Museum of Our National Heritage and for many historical societies throughout New England. We have performed in concert with the Meriden, Conn. Symphony Orchestra, as well as with a variety of smaller music ensembles and with recorded music accompaniment.

In 1990, the New England Chapter of the Victorian Society in America presented to the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers its Preservation Award in recognition of our work in researching, reconstructing and reviving dances of the Victorian Era.

More recently CVD has been involved in several TV projects with PBS and The History Channel. These include a dance sequence recreating a crowded 1890's Chicago ballroom in The American Experience Show Chicago: City of the Century (2003). They also provided costumed extras for other American Experience installments, one about Ulysses S. Grant, another A Murder at Harvard(2002), which was about a notorious 1849 murder case, and Mill Times(2002) also a PBS show featuring two of our ladies as Lowell Mill Girls in the 1830's. For The History Channel several of CVD's (and friends) best dressed men appeared in a documentary about Theodore Roosevelt (2003).

To get on our general mailing list or to get information regarding bookings, classes, or our Events Calendar, please contact:

THE COMMONWEALTH VINTAGE DANCERS
P.O. Box 9, Nahant, Massachusetts 01908
e-mail: 
phone: Hannah Roberts Artuso: (781) 662-8344
(before 10pm eastern time, please)