In 1976 the American Bicentennial created an audience for information about early American dance, but no scholarly resources were available. I took on the challenge and since that time have collected and indexed the raw materials with the help of two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (EASMES and PACAN).
Today many relevant primary sources are available online, and some—including several found in the Archive of Americana—challenge widely accepted historical understandings. From these and other resources, I have just completed a comprehensive history of dance in colonial America, covering dance of Native peoples as well as of European and African immigrants.
Here are a few examples of recent findings that have broadened our knowledge of music and dance in 17th- and 18th-century America.
Searching Mary Rowlandson’s description of her experience at a Wampanoag victory dance in 1675, I discovered that the festive clothing of her captors had incongruous European elements probably obtained from traders. Rather than the usual deerskin loin cloth, quill decorations, and detailed body paint, "he was dressed in his Holland shirt, with great laces sewed at the tail of it, he had his silver buttons, his white stockings, his garters were hung round with shillings. . . she had fine red stokins, and white shoes, her hair powdered and face painted red, that was alwayes before black" (Rowlandson, 57).
In newspapers published during George Whitefield’s appearances in Philadelphia in 1740, I found information that contradicted statements by the Methodist leader’s associates. Although they claimed Whitefield had entirely halted concerts and dancing, it was clear from local newspaper accounts that ticket holders, finding the assembly hall locked one night, had simply shrugged and held the concert the next day and a dance the following week, as usual. The newspaper editor, Benjamin Franklin, apologized for printing the false claims. "In my last, at the request of Mr. Seward, I inserted an article of news, relating to the shutting up of the concert room, &c. which it seems gives great offence to the Gentlemen concern'd in the entertainments usually carry'd on there; for tho' the article is allow'd to be literally true, yet by the manner of expression 'tis thought to insinuate something that is not true, viz. That the gentlemen forebore meeting on the night mentioned, as thinking such entertainments inconsistent with the Doctrine of the Gospel" (May 1 and 8, 1740).
The fascinating story of Mary Cowley, a dancing mistress in Rhode Island from 1763 to the 1790s, unfolded as I read advertisements and editorials in Newport papers. These pieces also revealed a rarely recorded side of this colonial port city, where local leaders held themselves above the transient tradesmen, merchants, seamen and others who often crowded into town. Cowley’s mission was to teach the Newport elite the manners and skills needed for the public appearances in assemblies and ballrooms that would affirm their social position. Cowley verbalized the restrictions against those “who can lay no claim, either by birth, fortune, education, or character” to be “qualified and entitled to this genteel amusement.” Seldom were these usually unwritten rules so bluntly stated (Newport Mercury, December 19, 1763 and ff.)
In Philadelphia of the 1770s, Alexander Russell listed the dances he taught. His “method…is the newest and most approved, now practiced in all the polite assemblies in Europe. Exclusive of the minuet, country dance and Scotch reel, he teaches (such of his pupils as he finds has a capacity) the Allemande, Cotillon and Louvre.” Later Russell offered more: “the double and reverse minuets, Bretagne….Those Gentlemen who choose to learn high dancing will be taught the sailor's hornpipe, princess royal, double and single hornpipes, Scots measure, with a variety of other high dances” (Pennsylvania Packet, August 24 and December 14, 1772).
Court records, diaries and other first-person narratives are harder to access but rich in personal data. As armies moved up and down the colonies, they held balls and went to local parties to meet girls. Two British officers appeared uninvited at a rural dancing party in North Carolina in 1780, bearing a gallon of rum as a “note of introduction.” Most of the revelers were slaves enjoying a rare evening of fun. A particularly alert man recognized the interlopers and quickly sought out his master. In the ensuing melee, the officers barely escaped capture (Bernard, 212-13).
Near West Point in 1779, Sergeant Benjamin Gilbert found fun in wine, women and song. After several “high capers” with local girls, he and his friends took lessons in country dancing. Shortly after that, they went “into the country and had a jenteele dance with an equile number of Ladies” (Symmes, 56–59). And when Elkanah Watson stopped at a ferry house in South Carolina in 1777, he found a party of “young folks of the lower order.” He pulled out his flute and “playing some jigs, [he] set them to shuffling, and capering in merry style” (Watson, 58).
These descriptions come from the raw materials of our colonial past. With cultural background and other documentary material added, a detailed picture of dancing and dance music in early America begins to develop.
Primary sources may seem daunting but they provide much new information. Beginning with references to names, dates, and events found in encyclopedias and history books, students and teachers can search and locate additional and often important details using electronic databases like the Archive of Americana. The hunt is well worth the effort!
References
Bernard, John. Retrospections of America, 1797–1811. New York: Harper and Bros., 1886.
EASMES. Early American Secular Music and its European Sources, 1589–1839, first published as the National Tune Index (New York: 1980 and 1989).
Readex, a Division of NewsBank. Archive of Americana: Early American Imprints, Series 1: Evans, 1639–1800” and “America’s Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922”.
PACAN. Corry, Mary Jane, et al. The Performing Arts in Colonial American Newspapers, 1690–1783, Text Data Base and Index. New York: University Music Editions, 1997. CD-ROM
Rowlandson, Mary. The Soveraignty & Goodness of God. Cambridge: Samuel Green, 1682. Evans 332
Symmes, Rebecca D. A Citizen-Soldier in the American Revolution: The Diary of Benjamin Gilbert in Massachusetts and New York. Cooperstown: New York State Historical Association, 1980.
Watson, Winslow C., ed. Men and Times of the Revolution; or, Memoirs of Elkanah Watson. New York: Dana and Co., 1856.
