I was writing a scene for Rebirth's sequel, Legacy, and I needed a scene with some dancing. Now, I am no dance connoisseur. Yes, let me use that overused phrase: I am that person with two left feet. I can play instruments, but I cannot follow dance moves.

So, without personal experience, I thought, why not do some Googling?

I started with the word, waltz. I thought waltzing seemed romantic enough, but the era from which it emerged, was surprisingly . . . modern. If you know some history and you've been a faithful reader of Rebirth (which I hope you are), then you would know that I like to blend my favourite parts of history to this story. I used a bit of Victorian fashion for their empire waist and long coats, and trousers for Urcis. For other components, I was looking at 16th to 18th century events, so for the dance, I wanted to pick something within that time frame.

But . . . who knew that waltzing was so young?

Then, I thought, okay, why not just find another dance? Easy enough said than done. Really, most of the hits online were for dance classes and bits of description, which did not prove to be helpful for writing my story. By now, I moved onto youtube and clip after clip, I looked at dance styles. (Honestly, couples pretty much imitated each other's moves and only occasionally joined hands or touched one another. No wonder waltzing was scandalous in the beginning.)

Anyhow, I came across this particular clip that had just the right moves, so here's a dose of baroque dance!


 (source: from The Banqueting House - Whitehall London
TRILION PICTURES (1987) present:
George Frederick Handel's "THE WATER MUSIC")

Lovely, isn't it?

Jubie (cubierock11)