By Devoney Looser, Arizona State University
Dancing was central to how romance and courtship worked among people of means in Jane Austen’s day. It was the best place to meet other young people in mixed company with conversation, music, and dancing, especially at evening gatherings or balls. A ball might also include card playing, tea, and late-night supper. Dancing was viewed, thus, as valuable exercise, especially for women, who had few outlets for it.
Balls in Jane Austen’s Novels
Balls could be anything from modest private events, with a small number of people, to extravagantly large public gatherings or something in between. There were royal balls, by exclusive invitation only. There were fashionable London subscription balls, including the famous one at a social club called Almack’s, for which tickets were purchased.
Balls might also be held in provincial assembly rooms, by clubs and organizations, or on special occasions. They might be held as private gatherings at country inns, which often had ballrooms built over their stables. This is what we see in Jane Austen’s novels. One such is Emma, with the ball at the Crown Inn. Balls could also be hosted by those who lived on large country estates, like Mr. Bingley’s ball at Netherfield Park in Pride and Prejudice.
Elizabeth Bennet, in Pride and Prejudice, believes private balls are always pleasanter than public ones, perhaps because they were more intimate and more likely to be attended by people you already knew and, with any luck, already liked.
A ‘Coming Out’ Ball
For wealthy families, a ball might be thrown in honor of a young lady’s coming out. That’s what we see in Mansfield Park, when Sir Thomas Bertram hosts a dance that is, in effect, designed to draw attention to his niece Fanny’s now being at a marriageable point in her life.
In advance of a ball, Fanny, like other girls of her age and class, would have likely received some instruction from a dancing master. He would have taught the steps, as well as the etiquette, of dancing.
This article comes directly from content in the video series The Life and Works of Jane Austen. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
Seeing and Being Seen
Balls were very structured affairs. Even coming and going from the event had its rules. There were bows and curtsies to be learned. Ladies needed to know when to take a gentleman’s hand and when to take his arm.
Dancing was also a visual spectacle of seeing and being seen, not just by your partner but by everyone in attendance. These were important things for men, too, to a degree, as, by design, they were doing the choosing rather than being chosen.
Given these requirements, it must have been difficult to remember that one wasn’t supposed to be stiff but to demonstrate at all times that they were delicate and lithe.
‘Two-Dance’ Rule
It was considered impolite for a woman to dance more than two dances with the same man at a ball. This showed too much of a preference for him. Yet this two-dance maximum rule is one we see frequently broken in the balls Austen depicts in her novels, perhaps never more outrageously than by Isabella Thorpe in Northanger Abbey.
In Northanger Abbey, Isabella Thorpe knows what she is doing is wrong when she dances repeatedly with James Morland. She even refers to her own doing so as “quite shocking”, but then she blames it all on her partner. Any reader then would have understood perfectly well that the refusal was up to Isabella. James wasn’t as blamable for asking her for too much. It was Isabella’s power, and her obligation, to refuse his excessive request.
Turning down men’s impolite requests was seen as women’s role.
Rank and Reputation
Dances were not only about courtship, of course. They were about reputation and display more generally, too. There were issues of rank to be considered and followed. Socially powerful couples were allowed to ‘lead’ the set, at the front or head of the group of couples that assembled for a particular dance.
Country dancing was less formal but still had its status-oriented placements and traditions.
Suitable Dance Partners
In any sort of dancing at a ball, to join the set required that one have a willing partner. Adults who were out of the marriage marketplace themselves may have tried to help the unmarried find suitable partners. They might offer introductions, or suggest partners, where they hadn’t yet occurred.
In Northanger Abbey, Mrs. Allen regrets that she doesn’t know anyone to introduce Catherine to. As she tells the young heroine, “I wish I had a large acquaintance here with all my heart, and then I should get you a partner.”
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet
Perhaps the most famous instance of this in Austen’s novels happens early in Pride and Prejudice, when Sir William Lucas tries to help the young people find dancing partners. He attempts to convince Mr. Darcy to dance and then cajoles him into asking Elizabeth Bennet.
The narrator calls Sir William’s own notion of his behavior an attempt to do “a very gallant thing”. The problem is that neither Elizabeth nor Darcy welcomes Sir William’s interference.
Complex Interactions at Balls
Darcy, forced into an invitation, asks Elizabeth with “grave propriety…to be allowed the honour of her hand” in the dance. Elizabeth refuses his tepid offer, declaring him “all politeness”. This implies, as Darcy surely realizes, that he asked her only out of politeness and nothing warmer.
But Elizabeth’s refusal heightens Darcy’s desire to be with her. It raises her in his esteem. In a sense, Sir William does exactly the gallant thing he sets out to do—to bring two unmarried young people together, except that, oddly, it’s by their not dancing with each other.
This scene shows that Austen understood very well the incredibly complex interactions possible at a ball.
Common Questions about Dance, Balls and Courtship in Jane Austens’ Novels
Balls were very structured affairs. Even coming and going from the event had its rules. There were bows and curtsies to be learned. Ladies needed to know when to take a gentleman’s hand and when to take his arm.
The two-dance rule meant a could not dance more than two dances with the same man at a ball. This showed too much of a preference for him.
Sir William Lucas, in Pride and Prejudice, tries to help the young people find dancing partners. He attempts to convince Mr. Darcy to dance and then cajoles him into asking Elizabeth Bennet.
