Newport Vintage Dance Week

Formal Tea at the Summer Garden
Friday, Manor House Gazebo

The Formal Tea will take place near the gazebo, on the lawn which sweeps down to Narragansett Bay. This event is your opportunity to wear your most formal afternoon outfit to enjoy tea and a game of croquet, or to rest your feet after a full week of dancing.

Vienna Dance Week, 2005!

Vienna Dance Week will return for its third year. The event will take place February 6-12 and will include a Fancy-Dress ball, Dance Tea and Strauss Ball. For further information please contact Hannelore at or visit the Hof Dantzer website.

The Ball.
Harry Bullfincher, who is ever so much better across country than when he mixes in the Merry Dance, (especially after supper) when he has come to grief over a stool during a polka, and is shouting for some one to “Catch his horse!”

Punch, February 15, 1862

Mid -19th Century Ball
Friday, Rotunda Ballroom, Newport

Linden Place mansion built in 1810 by the seafaring General George DeWolf and was featured in the film The Great Gatsby. Built in the Robert Adam inspired Federal style, Linden Place magnificently reflects the prosperity of the DeWolf merchant princes and the exquisite Adamesque Federal taste inspired by the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. Visitors will see one of the best examples of Federal architecture in New England, from the magnificent Palladian windows to the fluted Corinthian columns which gracefully flank the front entrance to the mansion.

Friday’s ball will be held at the Historic Rotunda Ballroom adjacent to the Carousel on First Beach (Easton’s Beach) in Newport. We are happy to be returning to this lovely Ballroom to enjoy the music of The New River Dance Orchestra. If weather permits we will enjoy refreshments on the terrace overlooking the moonlit Atlantic Ocean. Once again the Carousel will be open for rides during the intermission.

Directions from Portsmouth Abbey: Turn left onto Cory's Lane, drive to the intersection with route 114, turn right onto 114 and almost immediately, at the first light, turn left onto Hedley St. (there is a sign to Portsmouth Business Park). A little over ½ mi. down Hedley St. there is a stop sign, with a second stop sign almost immediately beyond it. Go straight at the first stop sign and turn right at the second onto route 138 south. Go approx. 4½ mi. on Rte. 138; 138 intersects with 138A (Aquidneck Ave.) at the Dunkin Donuts, turn onto 138A. Follow Aquidneck Ave. for about 2 miles, it eventually intersects with Memorial Blvd. Turn left onto Memorial Blvd., which bears right, and passes Newport's First Beach (on left). The carousel and ballroom will be on the left at Easton's (First) Beach. Parking is adjacent to the building.

Saturday Dance Class
Ragtime Curiosities: The Snake Dip and the Turkey Trot
Saturday, Gymnasium

Reneé Camus, alumni of CVD and many Newport Vintage Dance Weeks, will be teaching a special class covering curiosities from the Ragtime Era including the Snake Dip and the Turkey Trot.

Saturday Seminar
Sustaining a Vintage Dance Community:
The Future of Vintage Dance
Saturday, Gymnasium

Join our panel for a discussion, led by Marc Casslar, of how one creates a thriving Vintage Dance Community. Find out what has been successful and what hasn't. Come and share your ideas to help Vintage Dance thrive into the next Century.

Adapted to all August Sports

Ladies’ Box-plaited shirt waist 7130 and skirt 7124.
        Checked linen showing ecru and blue was chosen for this stylish tennis suit; the collar, cuffs, belt and front decoration of the skirt being made of plain blue. Three box-plaits are laid in the back and three in the front concealing the closing which is made with button and button-holes in a fly. Smooth under-arm gores separate the front from the back which has a pointed yoke. A casing is sewed at the waist line through which tapes are run to regulate the fullness, and the lower portion of the waist is worn beneath the skirt. The turn-down collar that finishes the neck is mounted upon a high neck-band, and can be made removable, if so desired. The sleeves, of moderate width, , are gathered at their upper and lower edges; straight cuffs finishing the wrists openings being made in back of the sleeves that are finished with pointed overlaps closing with link buttons. A narrow belt encircles the waist.         The skirt is admirable for summer wear., its straight back breadth adapting it specially to wash fabrics. The sides display the fashionable ripple effect on each side of the gored front, the straight back breadth falling in graceful folds from gathers at the top. The placket is finished in centre-back and the top is completed with a straight belt.         The style, which is an unusually smart one, can be developed in percale, cheviot, duck, dimity or gingham with collar and cuffs to match or of white linen. Blue serge is also suitable for making and the suit can be worn for yachting, shopping or travelling as well as for tennis.         To make this waist for a lady in the medium size will require three and one- half yards of thirty-six inch material. The skirt will require five and one-half yards of the same width goods. The waist pattern, No. 7130, is cut in sizes for a 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40-inch bust measure. The skirt pattern, No. 7124, is cut in sizes for a 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30-inch waist measure.

Modes,
edited by May Manton,
August 1897

For the Midsummer Jaunt.

        No one feature of the season is more notable than the variety of materials offered for the travelers’ wear. Not many years ago choice was limited to a black silk— ordinarily one already partly worn— and to wool. To-day on may wear black silk if she choose, but it will be a fresh one of taffeta or the delicious India, or, failing that, linen, duck, canvas, mohair, or a light-weight serge that is only third cousin to the heavy cloth common a decade ago.         The old saying that a black silk can always be trusted to be correct is true to-day as it was when first it was uttered, but to-day there are other things to share its popularity, while then it stood alone. Gros-grain, which was the favorite of the past, is somewhat over-warm for travel and has the disadvantage of harboring dust. Taffetas and Indias are both light in weight, and the latter delicously cool, in addition to which qualities they both shed the dust, which in itself is sufficient commendation. Serge has the advantage of being less liable to crumple, and it or mohair, made with jacket and skirt, embodies the wrap that is essential to comfort. Worn with the shirt waist, it is endurable at high noon, while with the jacket added it is sufficiently warm for the chilly evening which is liable to follow, while the delight of a linen costume upon a warm day is not to be overstated. Which is best, the taste of the individual and the demands of the special journey alone can determine. Each and all are correct, and in that fact alone lies much advantage.         Whatever the material, the accepted bodice is shirt waist form of cotton, taffeta or India. The latter are dignified by the name of blouse, and are rather more dressy and elaborate than the shirt waist proper. To travel comfortably, one should be equipped with both; for there are occasions upon which nothing is so desirable as the fabric that can be washed, and again there are times when the blouse, with its appearance of slightly more formal dress, enables one to be presentable at the hotel dinner even though the trunk be delayed. As the silks from which they are made do not crumple with folding, one can always be carried in the satchel along with fresh collar and necktie, so that in spite of dust and travel-stain, the traveler can not only look but feel fresh, with very little paraphernalia and the minimum of weight.         Stocks and collars of all sorts are allowed, the only being in favor of simplicity. A black satin tie and a belt of black leather can always be trusted, and this year the harness buckle takes first place. String ties of chambray are also good, and have the merit of laundering; and stocks worn with narrow turn-over collar of hemstitched linen are almost universally becoming, in spite of being excessively warm. Surest comfort is to be found in a variety, for the ability to make a change is often a luxury, and fresh collar, cuffs and tie mean a smartening of the entire costume.

Modes,
edited by May Manton,
August 1897

Ladies´ Tennis Costume

Games Day at the Astors’ Beechwood
Saturday, Astors’ Beechwood, Newport

Don your smartest sporting togs and practice your croquet swing. Saturday afternoon Patri and Barbara will be leading Victorian games on the lawn at The Astors’ Beechwood. Picnic lunch fixings will be available in the dining hall for you to pack a lunch and enjoy period games and the sights of Newport. There will be no charge for Dance Week attendees to participate in this event. If you wish to tour the house Saturday or any other day during the Dance Week, you can present your Dance Week badge for free admission to the house. We highly recommend touring the house. In case of rain, games will be held indoors.

Cliff Walk and Free Time

Free time is available on Saturday afternoon for outings in Newport and its environs. A perfect time for a stroll on the Cliff-Walk or a tour of a mansion or two.

Costume Exhibition
Lord of the Rings Exhibit, Costumes & More
at the Boston Museum of Science

The Museum of Science is hosting The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy — The Exhibition from August 1 - October 24, 2004. This exhibition features costumes, armor, weaponry, props and more. There are also many behind-the- scenes insights and interactive displays, and The One Ring itself.

Photographs Wanted

We are always searching for interesting photographs of the various events at Newport and other CVD events for inclusion in publicity materials and for placement on our webpage. If you have any that you think would be appropriate, please send them to the address on page 4, attn: CVD Photos, or give them to Katy Bishop (let us know if you wish to have them returned).

The Land of Sweets
Fancy Dress Ball
Saturday, The Auditorium, Portsmouth Abbey

The Abbey Auditorium will become The Land of Sweets, a place where Nutcracker Princes and Cracker Jack Sailors dance with Sugar Plum Fairy Princesses and Marzipan Maids in the sweetest of surroundings, amidst Gingerbread houses and Candy Cane forests in a world of bonbons and confections. Visit a land of cotton candy clouds, ice cream mountains topped with whipped cream, spun sugar trees and rivers of sweet syrup. Enjoy a dance with a chocolate bunny or a gumdrop mouse to the sweet rhythms of enchanting music. This will be an informal evening of dancing and merriment, featuring recorded music from the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries.

Sunday Check-out

Check-out time is 11am, Sunday August 17, you must be out of your rooms by this time. Please return keys to Hannah or your house parent. Your key deposit checks will be returned to you upon return of your key(s).

Etiquette Hints for the Ball Room
Compiled by Patri and Barbara Pugliese

On entering a ball-room, all thought of self should be dismissed. The petty ambition of endeavoring to create a sensation by either dress, loud talking, or unusual behavior, is to be condemned; also the effort to monopolize a certain part of the room during the evening, or of forming exclusive circles when unanimity and good feeling should prevail, are, to say the least, exceptionable. (Hillgrove, A Complete Practical Guide to the Art of Dancing, New York: 1863, p. 24.)
 
Ladies should remember that men look to the effect of dress in setting off the figure and countenance of a lady, rather than to its cost. Few men form estimates of the value of ladies' dress. This is a subject for female criticism. Beauty of person and elegance of manners in woman will always command more admiration from the other sex than costliness of clothing. (Hillgrove, p. 18.)
 
Be very careful, when dressing for a ball, that the hair is firmly fastened, and the coiffure properly adjusted. Nothing is more annoying than to have the hair loosen or the head-dress fall off in a crowded ball room. (Florence Hartley, The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness. Boston: 1860, p. 167.)
 
Draw on your gloves (white or yellow) in the dressing-room, and do not be for one moment with them off in the dancing-rooms. At supper take them off; nothing is more preposterous than to eat in gloves. (Henry P. Willis, Etiquette, and the Usages of Society. New York: 1860, p. 22.)
 
At private parties ladies and gentlemen should not dance exclusively with the same partners, if by so doing they exclude others from desirable company. We may, however, without impropriety ask a lady to join us the second time in a dance. We should treat all courteously; and, not manifesting preference for any one in particular, be ready to dance with whoever may need a partner. (Hillgrove, p. 21.)

In inviting a lady to dance with you, the words, "Will you honor me with your hand for a quadrille?" or "Shall I have the honor of dancing this set with you?" are more used now than "Shall I have the pleasure?" or "Will you give me the pleasure of dancing with you?" (Cecil B. Hartley, The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette. Philadelphia: 1860, p. 93.)
 
A young lady should be very careful how she refuses to dance with a gentleman; and above all she must take care not to accept two gentlemen for one dance. Many duels have resulted from this thoughtlessness. (Mrs. Hale, Manners; or, Happy Homes and Good Society. Boston: 1868, p. 286.)
 
If your partner has a bouquet, handkerchief, or fan in her hand, do not offer to carry them for her. If she finds they embarrass her, she will request you to hold them for her, but etiquette requires you not to notice them, unless she speaks of them first. (Cecil B. Hartley, p.96.)
 
When an unpracticed dancer makes a mistake, we may apprise him of his error; but it would be very impolite to have the air of giving him a lesson. (Willis, p. 23.)
 
When the dance is over, offer your arm to your partner, and enquire whether she prefers to go immediately to her seat, or wishes to promenade. If she chooses the former, conduct her to her seat, stand near her a few moments, chatting, then bow, and give other gentlemen an opportunity of addressing her. If she prefers to promenade, walk with her until she expresses a wish to sit down. Enquire, before you leave her, whether you can be of any service, and, if the supper-room is open, invite her to go in there with you. (Cecil B. Hartley, p. 93.)
 
Every gentleman should escort a lady to the supper-room, and after attending to her wants or tastes, never forget to return with her to the ball or drawing rooms, for nothing can be more impolite than to leave an "unprotected female" to shift for herself amid the tumult of a crowd of modern party-guzzlers. (Anon. Bazar Book of Decorum. New York: 1870, p. 228.)