Colonial dance collections

Listing of Australian Colonial Dance Collections

Held in Australian Libraries/ not produced in Australia

New Country Dances for the year 1799
Published by Thompson. St Paul’s Church-yard, London.
Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.
Special thanks to Amelia Powys for finding this.

New Country Dances for the year 1817. 
Rackham’s ladies’ memorandum book.
A selection of dances from Preston, Goulding, and Thompson.
Burdekin Papers, box 91.  Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.
http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=442404
Special thanks to Amelia Powys for finding this.

J. Power’s Select collection of dances, waltzes, quadrilles, &c., &c., for 1820 [music] / composed and arranged for the piano forte or harp, with an accompaniment for the flute, violin or flageolet.
Author: Voigt, Augustus, b. ca. 1779.
London : Published by the Editor, [1820?] University of Melbourne Library
http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/9107632

Seaton’s Ballroom Manual and Etiquette of Dancing.
Milton and Sowbray, Halifax, 1864.
Museums of History NSW. Caroline Simpson Research Library
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/201071722

Wheatsone’s Elegant and fashionable dances. Books 1 & 2 some pages missing. 1808.  The Woodriff papers.
National Library of Australia.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/24546360

White, John Charles.    [listed in catalogue but unable to be located January, 2013] White’s dances : as performed at London, Bath, Liverpool, Brighton, Cheltenham, and all fashionable assemblies, composed & arranged for the pianoforte or harp, and flute, violin, &c. ad lib. / by John Charles White.
Publisher     London : R. Cocks, [18–] Fisher Library, University of Sydney.  M 781.554 W585 1  v.2

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Produced in Australia

Anonymous A collection of hand written notes of  solo dances: Melbourne Clog, Highland Fling, Irish Jig, Sailor’s Hornpipe, etc. compiled by a teacher in Victoria, c.1880. Shirley Andrew’s papers. National Library of Australia.

J. H. Christison’s Manual of Dancing and Etiquette,
Maitland, NSW, 1882
State Library of NSW.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/173562093

Cole’s Book Arcade The pocket guide to the dances.
Melbourne : Cole’s Book Arcade, [191-]. 1 folded card ([6] p.) ; 15 x 10 cm.
Lists the various movements of six Quadrilles, the Waltz Coltillion and the Lancers.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/41107625

Ellard, Frederick   The Australian Ladies. A collection of national country dances. [music only] NLA Digital Collection .  ed. and orch. Richard Divall

Lovenberry, Ron  The Australian M.C. or Dancers Enquire Within, Containing One Hundred of the Newest Fashionable English , Irish, Scotch, French, and Colonial Dances. Woodcock & Powell, Brisbane. 1884
University of Queensland Library
http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/17806214

Read, Mrs Chas.  Australian Ballroom Guide, The Assembly Rooms, Woolloomooloo, Sydney. Three editions: 1874, 1876, 9th edition.
State Library of Victoria, National Library of Australia, Royal Historical Society Library. (9th enlarged edition) is on-line and can be downloaded from
http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/184753

Roberts, Henry Manual of Fashionable Dancing.
Melbourne , 2nd ed.1875, 3rd ed.1876.
State Library of Victoria, National Library of Australia, University of Melbourne, State Library of  South  Australia, State Library of NSW, Monash University Library.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/22251162
See NLA for 1875 (1st) and 1876 (2nd and 3rd editions) –
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=roberts+manual+of+fashionable+dancing+vade+mecum+for+ball+room+containing+review+full+description+all+modern+dances+%26c%22&type=title&limit[]=&submit=Find
The first edition is also available on-line from the US and is linked to the NLA cat entry.
There is also a 1912 edition (62pp) at the SLNSW
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/154909403?q=Roberts%27+manual+of+fashionable+dancing&c=book&versionId=168909914
For a critique of the work in the The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), Thursday 16 September 1880, page 6, see  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5984129

Scott, Edward  The ball-room guide, or, How to dance : the descriptions of dances revised, and in some cases rewritten  by Edward Scott.
Sydney : The Modern Publishing Co., [between 1895 and 1899?] State Library of New South Wales
http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/49048697

E.J. Wivell, Professor of Dancing.  The Ballroom Companion and Pupil’s Self Help. Adelaide. c1874
State Library of NSW and State Library of South Australia.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/37852016

E. J. Wivell, The Six Square Dances, or, fashionable quadrilles.
Adelaide, 1891.  http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/42524491
For more information regarding Wivell  and the dance manuals, see Brian Samuels’ article Wivells – BS article in AF no21 2006  in Australian Folklore, 2006.
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Modern books about colonial dance.

Shirley Andrews. Take Your Partners.  Traditional Dancing in Australia.
Hyland House Publishing, Melbourne, 1979.

Shirley Andrews and Peter Ellis. Two Hundred Dancing Years and how to celebrate them with a colonial ball. Australian Bicentennial Authority, 1988

Nell Challingsworth Dancing Down the Years.  The Romantic Century in Australia.
The Craftsman Press, Melbourne, 1978
Australia’s Dancing Heritage. Stories of the 19th Century.
Go Dancing Publications, Melbourne, 1994

Ray Hampton ChristisonShapeshifter : the strange life of John Hampton Christison, Professor of Dancing 1858 to 1923. Lithgow, N.S.W. The City of Greater Lithgow Mining Museum Inc, October 2017.

Dr John P. Cullinane. Aspects of the History of Irish Dancing in Ireland, New Zealand, N. America and Australia. Cork, 1994.
Aspects of 170 years of Irish Dancing in Australia,  2006
cullinanejohn@eircom.net

J.W.C. Cumes. Their Chastity was not too Rigid.  Leisure Times in Early Australia.
Longman Cheshire/Reed, Melbourne, 1979.

Peter Ellis. The merry country dance : a description and social history of colonial and old time dance and music. Bush Dance and Music Club of Bendigo, Victoria  2005

Edward H. Pask.   Enter the Colonies Dancing. A History of Dance in Australia 1835-1940.
Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1979

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Many 18th/19th dance books and manuals are available online via the National Library of Australia catalogue Trove

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The largest collection of dance manuals available on-line is at the American Library of Congress.  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dihtml/dihome.html

The information on this website www.historicaldance.au may be copied for personal use only, and must be acknowledged as from this website. It may not be reproduced for publication without prior permission from Dr Heather Blasdale Clarke.

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Acknowledgement of Country.

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Country on which we live and work, and pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge the impact colonialism has had on Aboriginal Country and Aboriginal peoples and that this impact continues to be felt today.

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