Below are some notes on those English Country Dances that have appeared in the two most recent adaptations of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice - the 1995 BBC production (P&P1995) and the 2005 feature movie (P&P2005). In both cases, I have framed my dance descriptions around the cited sources original wording (which I have put in bold) and I have then gone on to note how this understanding of the original dance might vary from other versions of the dance commonly danced or the version danced on screen. Although I have been able to cover all the historical dances musically or visually glimpsed in both adaptions, my comments on those dances featured in the 2005 movie are briefer than those for the 1995 production as I have only had an opportunity to view the movie once. We have received so many requests however for notes such as these that I thought we had best post up some notes even if they are still in a rudimentary form. Please scroll down towards the bottom of this page to find Part 2: Dances in the 2005 Pride & Prejudice movie.

For notated and recorded music to match these dances, see Peter Barnes' The Barnes Book of English Country Dance Tunes and the recordings of his band, Bare Necesities and Nicolas Broadbridge and Marjorie Fennessy's 1996 book Purcell's Dancing Master, and the recordings of Nicolas' band The Assembly Players. My own interpretations of the music don't always correspond exactly with the interpretations presented in the above excellent works, but my own English Country Dance Book, in which I intend to present music and dance instructions and notes for all the dance below and another 100 beside, might not be out till 2007 (keep in touch if interested!). In the meantime, for opportunities to dance the dances here notated see our up-coming events pages. For more on costume from the time of these dances or to order custom made Regency garments, see our Regency Costume pages. For more on dancing in the late 18th and early 19th century see our Dance History pages.

You can book us to play for your own Pride & Prejudice Ball / Birthday / Wedding function and we are also available to come as a historical dance troupe to perform and/or teach some dances at your function anywhere in Australia.

In the notes which follow Apted is short for The Apted Book of Country Dances, ed. W.S. Porter et.al. (English Folk Dance and Song Society, 1966). Thompson is short for'Charles and Samuel Thompson' who issued a collection of 24 dances each year for a period in the late 18th century. The Playford Ball refers to the 1990 book by Kate van Winkle Keller and Genevieve Shimer. The director of choreography for P&P drew heavily on dances presented in the Apted work, which in turn was essentially a compilation of dances from various Thompson editions. I would also like to thank the Contradancers of Hawaii for permission to use some of the midis which they have on their site, to thank Amy Garden for the rest of the midis on this page, to thank Elaine Bratke at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library in London for sending me photocopies of Thompson originals I was keen to cite and to thank Nicolas Broadbridge for the help he offered me in identifying the dances in the 2005 movie and obtaining original texts of some of these dances. Abbreviations in the text below are explained in dance terms.

 

Our apologies for removing our old notes from this page.
We promise to replace them by mid 2009 with the greatly improved notes John has been writing.
For assistance in the meantime with dances and midis, please do not hesitate to
contact us directly by email.

 

Part 1: Dances in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice production

The Touchstone | A Trip to Highgate | Mutual Love | The Comical Fellow | The Happy Captive

Pleasures of the Town | Barley Mow | Shrewsbury Lasses | Mr Beveridges Maggot | Grimstock | Lasses of Portsmouth

 

Part 2: Dances in the 2005 Pride & Prejudice Movie