How they danced at balls in Russia 200 years ago, and what dance spoke of the gentleman's serious intentions

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It was the best way for people to see and show themselves for that time. Polonaise was supposed to demonstrate clothes and the ability to keep posture, minuets were like a courteous and graceful invitation to dance, waltz and in the 19th century was sometimes considered an indecent dance, but the mazurka opened up wonderful opportunities for declaring love. Balls of the 18th - 19th centuries are a separate world in which success was accompanied by the most gallant and courteous gentlemen, and the ladies needed not only the elegance of dress and refined manners, but also a good "sports" form.

How balls became the favorite entertainment of Russian nobles

You can forget the names of the characters from War and Peace or Anna Karenina, but how many have deleted from memory the description of the first ball of Natasha Rostova or another, at which a fatal feeling arose between Anna and Vronsky, and Kitty's heart was broken? It is unlikely - both the solemn capital ball with the participation of the emperor, and the more modest, but more cheerful Moscow ball thanks to Tolstoy turned almost into the own memories of yesterday's schoolgirls.

One of the main functions of the ball was indeed to hold a "fair of brides" among the nobility, and many things served that: customs regarding dress, and strict ceremonial, and unspoken rules and customs that made it possible to discern in potential spouses the dignity important for living together.

The beginning of the history of balls in Russia is associated with Peter I - in 1718 the emperor ordered assemblies, which gradually taught the Russian nobles to this Western tradition. Only at first everything was somewhat simpler than in Europe: the assemblies meant rather friendly gatherings with dances: strong alcohol was served, a lot of tobacco, various games and fun were started, in the invention of which Peter himself was a great master. The hosts and guests of such assemblies were not exactly delighted with the ruler's quirks, but there was nowhere to go: they brought their wives and daughters, and forced themselves to dance - these events were declared a mandatory tradition.

But then came the era of empresses - and they so loved to dress up and show themselves in all their splendor at balls, that the aristocracy very soon fell in love with this kind of pastime. No one forced anyone else - on the contrary, receiving an invitation to the ball was considered an honor and evidence of belonging to the privileged circles of society. Attending balls, it was quite easy to make the necessary acquaintances, win the favor of valuable guests, successfully marry a daughter or marry a son. True, the matter was no longer limited to just arrival at the ball - the assemblies are a thing of the past, the time has come for a special ceremony and strict ballroom etiquette.

In what cases masks were required at the ball

Of course, the masquerade ball presupposed the obligatory presence of a mask, and also a cloak. In other cases, men appeared at the ball in a tailcoat or in a ceremonial military uniform and certainly in gloves, women appeared at balls in dresses of any color and various styles, but the neck and shoulders had to be open. And if so, it was assumed that the lady would necessarily have either a necklace, or a chain, or other adornment.

The uncomfortable shoes of the Petrine era no longer hindered the dancers' movements, the shoes became comfortable. Unless the military could flaunt and appear at the ball in boots, and even with spurs - this was not approved, since the hems of ladies' dresses suffered during the dances, but the success of young officers in the world was always great enough to turn a blind eye to such deviations from the rules. The obligatory ladies' ballroom accessory was a small carne book, where the dance numbers and the names of the gentlemen were recorded.

Etiquette demanded that the gentleman should not dance with one lady more than once per evening - only in the second half of the 19th century this rule became a little less strict. But still, more than three times only the bride and groom could dance together. With such a richness of dance plans for the evening, it's no wonder that ballroom books have appeared. They became for young ladies a confirmation of success in society, and the men who invited them to dance were included in the list of personal victories.

Most of the dances young ladies, especially those who went out into the world for the first season, waited with bated breath, but the ball's program also included special ones, as if specially designed for romantic explanations. The ball opened with a polonaise, or, literally translated from French, "Polish" - a solemn procession, a walk to the music, while the host was paired with the most honored guest, and the hostess with the most honored guest. In Russia, the polonaise was the first of the "imported" Western dances: and this is again the merit of Peter I. In fact, the polonaise was a demonstration by the dancers of themselves: their outfits, posture, ability to keep themselves, their sense of rhythm and courtesy towards their partner …

The polonaise was followed by the minuet, another ceremonial dance that consisted of a sequence of bows and curtsies. It was performed on half-fingers, lasted a long time and, by the way, demanded endurance and good physical shape from the dancers - the movements in the minuet became more and more complex over time. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who was famous for being able to dance several minuets in a row, was, admittedly, one of the most indefatigable ladies among those who danced this dance. But gradually the minuet's popularity declined; by the thirties of the 19th century, the minuet was rarely included in the ball program. Since the time of Catherine, noblemen in Russia began to dance the square dance, which is also not the easiest dance; he demanded the execution in pairs of different figures, which were announced by the presenter. During the square dance, it was not particularly possible to talk - it was easy to make mistakes in movements.

Dance preceding declarations of love

After several quadrilles, angles, polkas, the time of the mazurka came - the very dance for which Kitty Shtcherbatskaya was waiting with bated breath. The ladies painted the mazurka first of all, and in general a lot of attention was given to it in the light. The ability to dance a mazurka well was equated with "higher" ballroom education. After the dance, the gentleman took the lady to the table for dinner; during the ball, dishes were served on small tables in small living rooms. The time after the mazurka was considered the most romantic and appropriate for recognition and explanation.

The ball, however, did not end with dinner. The evening ended with the dance of the cotillion, a dance-game, which, again, was "controlled" by the gentleman of the leading couple. Sometimes at the end of the evening they danced a waltz, which has become popular since the eighties of the 18th century. Generally speaking, it was a kind of revolution in ballroom etiquette: is it a heard thing for a gentleman to touch a lady in such a frank way, so that the dancers also find themselves face to face?

But this was the advantage of the new dance. The gentleman and his lady received the opportunity not only to exchange remarks inaudible to others, but they could secretly pass notes to each other from other guests. In the 19th century, the waltz could become the first dance of the ball, and the polonaise, on the contrary, completed the evening. By the way, it was the waltz that started the ball in the novel Anna Karenina, the same one that started the relationship between the heroine and Vronsky.

Balls for Russian nobles were too important a part of social life to be treated lightly. It was once completely unthinkable to get a good education without devoting time to dance lessons. This type of training was included in the program of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. And in order to prepare little aristocrats to participate in real, adult balls, children's balls were often arranged for them. Of course, the balls varied in scale and splendor. The capital's court festivities attracted several thousand guests and assumed luxury and sophistication in everything, including treats. The Moscow balls were simpler in terms of the severity of etiquette. Provincial landowners also organized their evenings.

According to etiquette, an invitation to the ball implied a "duty" to dance, and also - to behave lightly, cheerfully, to have a casual conversation that would not touch on unnecessarily serious topics. And here how a nobleman should behave if he danced with a girl, and other gender oddities in tsarist Russia.