The Multicultural Nature Of Australian Traditional Social Dance.


An article by Peter Ellis in the December, 1995 issue of Dance Messages made it clear just
how much of the Anglo-Celtic dance music popular around the folk scene has come to us quite
recently. It came from the folk revivals that have occurred in those countries in this century,
with its distribution being assisted by the recording industry. The music collected from 
traditional bush musicians who played for dancing in Australia was different because the dances
 they played for were different. The 19th century was one of those periods when an entirely new
 style of social dancing became popular, and was adopted by all social classes.


Earlier styles were influenced by the fact that the majority of people lived in rural settings
 and had their own, mainly regional, dances. Most of the dances from Europe with which we are 
familiar under the term ‘folk dance’ are of this type. Of course, the very earliest settlers 
from Britain brought some of their folk dances with them. However many of the settlers came here 
from the cities, not direct from village life, and had already lost many of their cultural traditions
 in the upheavals that followed firstly, an Agricultural Revolution, with its closure of common land
, and then the Industrial Revolution.


As the Industrial Revolution developed on that side of the world it brought many changes to all aspects
of social life. These changes were to influence life in Australia as the early settlers clung tightly
to their connections with their former homelands and quickly adopted many of these new social customs,
including the new styles of dancing. The dances done in the earliest days by these new settlers were 
either the country dances that were dances in upper class circles or else those dances not strictly 
regional but more widely known over different areas of the British Isles. Examples include Haymakers’ 
Jig, Country Bumpkin, and Thady You Gander (the Irish Trot). The last two are mentioned in the Sydney 
Gazette of May 15th, 1803 as having been dances at a local wedding.


Meanwhile during the last days of the 18th century and the early days of the 19th a new style of dancing 
was developing in the main European cities. This was designed to suit the much enlarged populations that 
had come to the cities from many different regions. This new style was based on European folk dances 
which city dance teachers had adopted for dancing on smooth floors instead of on the village green. This 
folk background ensured their popularity. Philip Richardson in The Social Dances of the Nineteenth Century 
in England, (1960) states that "A careful study of the history of our social dance during the past two or 
three hundred years reveals the fact that a new dance, if it is to have a world-wide appeal, must have 
come from a folk dance".


The new dances were of two types, the then somewhat shocking, closed-couple dances with partners facing one 
another, and the quadrilles with four couples in a square, facing inward. Contredanses and Cotillons with 
couples in a square formation had been popular in the 18th century and four of the most popular of the French 
contredanses of the day became the basis of the Quadrille (also known in Australia as the First Set) with a 
fifth one added later. This was danced in Paris in the early days of the 19th century and first appeared at 
London’s most fashionable dance hall in 1815. From London it migrated to Sydney by 1824, to be followed by 
many more of the new dances. They were taken up with enthusiasm here and made so much our own that by the 
1850s they had completely taken over the social dance scene.


The Waltz was the first of the closed-couple dances to make the transition from village green to ballroom and 
dance hall. This process had taken most of the second half of the 18th century. In Vienna it was danced vigorously 
in the suburban dance halls, and in Prague it had also been danced in fashionable society until banned by court 
edict in 1785. These upper class circles were more shocked by the close face-to-face position of the couple than 
the peasantry or middle class. However this was nothing like as close as the bear-like hug common in the Landler 
and Dreher which are believed to be the ancestors of the Waltz It arrived in London in 1812, provoking a storm of 
criticism, including a very stern editorial in the Times when it was first danced at the English court. Australian 
society appears to have been more tolerant as historian, Marjorie Barnard reports that the Waltz arrived in Sydney 
in 1815 and was danced at private balls although Governor Macquarie insisted on Scottish reels at Government House 
Balls. The earliest version of the popular Spanish Waltz used the waltz step in a more folk-style formation but soon 
included the turning step with its close hold in later versions.


Other quadrilles were soon added to the repertoire overseas, such as the Lancers, the Caledonians, which was danced 
to Scottish music but used the standard quadrille stepping, Prince Imperials, Alberts, Waltz Cotillon, Royal Irish, 
and others. They were soon to appear in Australia, often coming via London but sometimes direct from other cities, 
such as Paris. This can be seen in an advertisement in the Melbourne Argus of December 19th, 1861 when the well-known 
dance teacher, E.V. Wivell proudly announced that he had received the details of the Prince Imperials direct from a 
French colleague and would be teaching it at his class that evening. These quadrilles usually developed their own 
versions here and continued be danced well into the 20th century with a few, such as the Lancers, Alberts and Waltz 
Cotillon still danced in some country areas at general social dances. Quadrilles also have their keen supporters 
around the folk scene and some of the more enthusiastic ones enjoy researching and reviving those lesser-known dances 
that did not survive in the general dance scene into this century.


It usually happened that when teachers adopted the dances of the ordinary folk they tended to make the steps more 
elaborate, and complicated. This certainly happened with French folk dance steps. However the steps of the quadrilles 
soon became simplified as the quadrilles were danced by more people and in different levels of society. The steps fitted 
other 2/4, 3/4 and 6/8 tunes as well as their original ones so that it was always possible for dance musicians to adapt 
the popular music of the day to suit them. This was one reason why these dances survived and remained popular for so long.


One couples dance that arrived here as fast as the sailing ships could carry the news was the Galop (also known then as 
Galopade). This appeared in London in 1829 and was thought to have come from Russia. It was danced at a Government House 
Ball in Perth that same year. Danced to very fast 2/4 music, it was a simple dance, with dancers advancing in a series 
of chassés, interspersed with galop turns. It was often danced at the end of a ball and gave the more energetic dancers 
a chance to tear around the hall at breakneck speed.


The new-style dances continued to take over the social dance scene and push out the English country dances, and other 
folk-style dances. This process was accelerated by the introduction of the Polka in the 1840s. this polka was based on 
a folk dance from Bohemia which was danced to fast 2/4 music with an unusual and attractive rhythm. It first became 
popular in European cities, including Prague, Berlin, Paris and St.Petersburgh and was first introduced to London by 
the Illustrated London News in 1844. Music specially written for it by Jacques Offenbach appeared in the issue of 
March 23rd, and the full instructions for the ballroom version (which they called the Drawing-room Polka) on May 11th. 
This popular newspaper had many readers in Australia and personal reminiscences from that time record how enthusiastically 
these details were received and quickly passed around. It was featured on some ball programs here in 1845 and the great 
polka craze began in earnest.


Although advertised by a dancing teacher in Hobart as early as 1839 and one in Sydney in 1840, the Mazurka did not do so 
well here, possibly because it involved a more difficult and complicated series of steps, adapted from the energetic 
Polish Mazurka. As later there was a confusing custom of shortening the name of the Polka Mazurka (a dance combining 
polka turns with simplified mazurka steps) to ‘Mazurka’ it is likely that some dances collected from elderly informants 
under this name are Polka Mazurkas. The modern version of the Polka Mazurka as danced in Victoria has lost much of 
the character of the original version.


Another couples dance that quickly became popular shortly after the polka was the Schottische. This was being danced 
in England around 1848 and here in Australia soon afterwards. Despite its name being the German word for Scottish, 
this dance came from Bavaria and its music was also German. Danced to 4/4 music or to 2/4 played slowly to give, 
the same effect, its forward movement included a hop on the 4th beat, and the turn was done with stop hops. It remained 
popular right through the century but later versions eliminated the characteristic hops. Its present version danced in 
the Old Time repertoire is rather dull.


Although these ballroom adaptions of folk dances were usually introduced first to upper and middle class dancers both 
here and overseas, they were later taken up by all levels of society. This process was quite fast here as our class 
structures were less rigid, a fact that was often noted critically by more snobbish visitors. One upper class visitor 
from Tasmania viewed this development more favourably when she visited a ‘shilling ball’ in Melbourne in 1851. In Over 
the Straits: A Visit to Victoria by Louise Ann Meredith, 1861, the author writes; "The room was filled with men and women 
of the working class in their everyday dresses; men in fustian coats, blue and red, and serge shirts; the commonest cord 
or fustian trousers, trade-grimed or mud-bespattered . The women, young and older, in dowdy common gowns, shawls, bonnets, 
and walking shoes. These people, in the most orderly and correct manner imaginable, were dancing quadrilles, polkas, 
waltzes, etc., generally with great precision, sobriety, and good manners".


The Quadrille Assemblies which many dance teachers held weekly were popular with keen dancers further up the social scale. 
A typical program advertised in the Melbourne Argus on June 22nd, 1852, included the Quadrille (First Set), Lancers, 
Caledonians (all danced twice) and a Polka Quadrille. Couples dances included polkas, schottisches, waltzes, the Cellarius 
or Mazurka-Waltz and with a bracket combining the polka and galop ending each section of the program. One country dance was 
also included in this program. As happened with the Cellarius in this list, there were many other dances introduced that 
enjoyed only a short period of popularity and then disappeared from the dance programs. In this article I have concentrated 
on the dances that achieved long periods of popularity here.


One that became a special favorite in Australia was the Varsoviana which combined a simple mazurka step with a polka turn 
and a series of turn-and-point steps. Danced to 3/4 music with a strong accent on the 2nd and 4th bars, it was launched in 
Paris in 1853 by a young dance teacher named Désiré, and arrived here soon afterwards. It is interesting that, although 
this dance had only a short period of popularity in England at that time, this certainly was not the case in Australia. 
Still a favorite in country districts this century, it has retained much of its original character in Victoria but further 
north in N.S.W and Queensland, the mazurka section has lost its characteristic hop, and dancers proceed in a series of 
sideways shuffles. Despite the name, it didn't come from Vienna nor from Poland. The mazurka step and general pattern of 
the dance are believed to have been adapted from the Scandinavian folk version.


Another dance from Bohemia, the Redowa was also popular here last century with the original Redowa waltz in 3/4 time and a 
later adaption in 2/4, the Redowa Polka. The waltz version impressed onlookers as being very graceful but had a change of 
weight that was difficult so that it tended to be danced only by the better dancers. A dancer from a Czech folkloric group 
confirmed that this step with its change of weight is difficult to learn but that it gives the Redowa its unique character.


As the new dances with their variety of styles adapted from European folk dances took over, the English country dances 
disappeared from the social dance scene. One exception was Sir Roger de Coverly which was often used as the final dance 
at a ball, especially at more formal balls. There were also a few dances which combined some steps and figures from these 
earlier dances with those of the new. One example is the Tempest which was advertised in the Illustrated Sydney News in 
1854 as a "new fashionable dance". Others in this category are Circassian Circle, Part I, Eightsome Reel, and Highland 
Schottische. In England some of these dances that appeared first in 19th century ballrooms did also become popular in rural 
settings where they were later collected as folk dances. Scottish reels still appeared in some programs here, especially in
districts with groups of Scottish migrants but Scottish and Irish dances in general became restricted to family and 
specialist groups. these dances also survived as competition dances at the frequent Caledonian and Hibernian fairs and other 
functions and later at the popular eisteddfods.


Solo dancing can be transferred more easily to a new country than social dancing, so we find that the Clog and Step dancing 
brought from Ireland and from northern England flourished here. An Australian style developed which featured improvisation. 
Competitions were popular, with champion dancers challenging one another and inviting paying customers to their contests. 
For more impromptu contests, often at pubs, doors were taken down to act as stages. Step dances were still seen as items 
featured at balls early this century.


Everything favoured the new style of dancing last century. Leading composers wrote music for it in the correct rhythms. 
New dances, such as the Polka, were performed by famous dancers in special stage arrangements. With Balls and dances one 
of the favorite entertainments of all classes, the standard of dancing was good. Everyone learnt to dance as a normal part 
of growing up and many overseas visitors recorded their admiration. Its popularity was such that in places where women were 
scarce, men danced together, both in quadrilles and couples dances. Nell Challingsworth in Australia’s Dancing Heritage, 
(1995) quotes an account by one of the prisoners held in the Glenrowen Inn how in the early hours of the morning 
"They danced a set of quadrilles and Mr Mortimer, brother-in-law of the schoolmaster, furnished the music with a concertina.
Ned Kelly had the girl Jones for a partner, Dan had Mrs Jones and Byrne and Hart danced with the male prisoners.".


Certainly most of our folk danced in the style then. Some folklorists have a very romantic, almost mystical, concept of 
folk dance and its origins, seeing it as remote from all other styles. However dance historians such as Joan Lawson in 
European Folk Dancing, (1955), explain how dances and styles have frequently been exchanged between countries, regions, and 
social classes. Others have emphasised the importance of travelling dance teachers in countries like Ireland and Scotland. 
An Englishman, travelling in Ireland in the 1770s, wrote that there "the cotters pay (them) sixpence a quarter for teaching 
their families." In country Australia last century the dances were often taught by family members, the local M.C. and other 
good dancers in the community, as well as by dance teachers.


What’s in a Name? Last century social dancing was simply called Ball-Room Dancing but this name was usurped by the new 
dance style of the 1920s. Later on the term Old Time was also taken over by the New Vogue with its more modern and flamboyant
 style. The name Colonial Dancing is too restrictive, covering only the period to 1901. Heritage Dancing has an advantage 
as it suggests those things from the past which we value and wish to restore and preserve. In the 1950s some of the folk 
dances from British Isles that were danced by the early settlers were revived by the bush music clubs in Sydney and 
Melbourne. They formed the basis of what became known as Bush Dancing simply from that association with those clubs. 
But this name is misleading because all the folk, both in the bush and in the cities, danced in the style 
I have described here as comprising the major part of our dance traditions. As these traditions had already integrated 
elements from so many cultures last century they will surely fit in well with our present multicultural society.


Shirley Andrews.