The 2010 Art Deco Sunday Tea Dance

Did you know? - A tea dance, or thé dansant (French: literally dancing tea) is an afternoon or early-evening dance. The function evolved from the concept of the afternoon tea, and traces its origin back to the French colonization of Morocco.Books on Victorian Era etiquette even included instructions for hosting such gatherings. A frequent feature of tea dances was the presence of a live orchestra – often referred to as a palm court orchestra – playing light classical music. The types of dances performed during tea dances included Waltzes, Tangos and, by the late 1920s, The Charleston.

Tea dances are a common cultural reference in early 20th century fiction as a staple of genteel society, where people normally attend these receptions while visiting resort towns (like Brighton, the Hamptons, Provincetown, or Ogunquit). One example can be seen in the 1925 hit Broadway musical No, No, Nanette. A tea dance provides the setting for the plot's climax when the main characters travel to Atlantic City (the same musical also features the famous song "Tea for Two" which is sung prior to this scene).

In the United States, the term has been broadened to refer to any casual afternoon dance event. An infamous example was the 1981 Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in Kansas City, Missouri, that occurred during an afternoon dance which killed 114 people and injured 200.

Did you know? - Afternoon tea is a light meal typically eaten between 3pm and 5pm. The custom of drinking tea originated in England when Catherine of Bragança married Charles II in 1661 and brought the practice of drinking tea in the afternoon with her from Portugal. Various places that belonged to the former British Empire also have such a meal. However, changes in social customs and working hours mean that most Britons will rarely take afternoon tea, if at all.

Traditionally, loose tea is brewed in a teapot and served in teacups with milk and sugar. This is accompanied by sandwiches (customarily cucumber, egg and cress, fish paste, ham, and smoked salmon), scones (with clotted cream and jam, see cream tea) and usually cakes and pastries (such as Battenberg, fruit cake or Victoria sponge). The food is often served on a tiered stand; there may be no sandwiches, but bread or scones with butter or margarine and optional jam or other spread

Did you know? - MORA'S RAGTIME ORCHESTRA was formed in 2006 to present the ragtime repertoire from the late 1890s to the 1910s, using period arrangements. This is pianist Dean Mora's effort to return to his "roots" (he started out on his adventure in vintage music some twenty years ago by playing in a ragtime band). The group's repertoire encompasses the wide variety of music popular during this period, from classic rags by Scott Joplin, to popular songs by Irving Berlin; from marches by John Phillip Sousa, to the tango and waltz dances.

Did you know? - A sprung floor is a floor that absorbs shocks giving it a softer feel. Such floors are considered the best available for dance and indoor sports and physical education. They enhance performance and greatly reduce injuries. Modern sprung floors are supported by foam backing or rubber feet, while traditional floors provide their spring through bending woven wooden battens. Many dance halls with sprung hard wood floors date back to the early 20th century, such as the Willowbrook Ballroom in Chicago (1921) and the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR (1914).

Dance etiquette are the conventional rules which govern the social behavior of dance by its participants. Such rules include the way in which the participants should look and the way in which they approach, dance with and leave their partner. Etiquette can vary in its specification and stringency between different styles of dance.

Simple rules to follow:

The line of dance, the movement of dancers around the floor, is counter clockwise.

Some dancers move parallel to the floor edge and some zig zag but always counter clockwise.

When things go wrong on the dance floor always apologize. Just as in driving it always takes two to create a collision. Generally it does not matter who is at fault.

If you are moving slowly with respect to  other dancers keep to the center of the floor.

If you are engaged in conversation move off the dance floor.

To cross the room either dance across the floor or walk around the perimeter.

Carry food and beverages around the perimeter. Wipe up your own spills.

Did you know? - To "trip the light fantastic" is to dance nimbly or lightly, or to move in a pattern to musical accompaniment.

This phrase evolved through a series of usages and references. The phrase is typically attributed to Milton's poem L'Allegro, but a somewhat similar phrase appears in Shakespeare's The Tempest. The phrase in this modern usage comes from the lyrics of the song The Sidewalks of New York.

Did you know? - The ukulele, (pronounced YOO-Koo-leh-lee, from Hawaiian:  variantly spelled ukelele in the UK), sometimes abbreviated to uke, is a chordophone classified as a plucked lute; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings.

The ukulele originated in the 19th century as a Hawaiian interpretation of the cavaquinho, a small guitar-like instrument brought to Hawai'i by Portuguese immigrants. It gained great popularity elsewhere in the United States during the early 20th century, and from there spread internationally.

Tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and construction. Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone

Did you know? - Bowing (also called stooping) is the act of lowering the torso and head as a social gesture in direction to another person or symbol. It is most prominent in Asian cultures but it is also typical of nobility and aristocracy in many countries and distinctively in Europe. Sometimes the gesture may be limited to lowering the head. It is especially prominent in China, Korea, India, Taiwan, and Japan where it may be executed standing or kneeling.

n European cultures — aside from bows done by performers on stage, such as at the curtain call — bowing is an exclusively male practice, and females instead perform a related gesture called a "curtsey" or "curtsy." The depth of the bow is related to the degree of respect or gratitude. In European courtly circles, males were expected to "bow and scrape" (hence the term "bowing and scraping" for what appears to be excessive ceremony). "Scraping" refers to the drawing back of the right leg as one bows, such that the right foot scrapes the floor or earth. Typically, while executing such a bow, the man's left hand is pressed horizontally across the abdomen while the right is held out from the body.

Did you know? - In popular belief, examined wittily and at length in the seventeenth century by Sir Thomas Browne in his Pseudodoxia Epidemica, unicorn horns could neutralize poisons. Therefore, people who feared poisoning sometimes drank from goblets made of "unicorn horn".

Alleged aphrodisiac qualities and other purported medicinal virtues also drove up the cost of "unicorn" products such as milk, hide, and offal. Unicorns were also said to be able to determine whether or not a woman was a virgin; in some tales, they could only be mounted by virgins.

In one of his notebooks Leonardo da Vinci wrote:

"The unicorn, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it."

Did you know? - The traditionally held-to-be proper way to drink from a wine glass, especially when drinking white or otherwise chilled wine, is to grasp it by the stem. The most commonly accepted reasoning for this is to avoid fingerprints on the bowl, and to prevent the temperature of the wine from being affected by body heat.

Did you know? - A "chaser" is a mild alcoholic drink (often beer) that is quickly drunk after a straight shot of liquor

Remember: "Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn." ~Terri Guillemets

Remember: "Dancing is moving to the music without stepping on anyone's toes, pretty much the same as life." ~Robert Brault