THE SOCIAL MEANING OF DANCING IN THE 18TH CENTURY COLONIAL VIRGINIA

Author(s):  P.V. Vostrikov, Kursk State University,, Kursk, Russia, Sortavala2015@inbox.ru

Issue:  Volume 45, №1

Rubric:  Topical issues of world history

Annotation:  As colonial society acquired characteristic stable features at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, a special identity, characteristic of Virgins, arose. Dancing in colonial Virginia is regarded in this essay not only as a form of leisure activity but also as a particular non-verbal means of expression associated with a sense of be-longing to a certain social group. Virginians revealed via dancing the hierarchical principle of the colonial so-ciety. Gentry, middle-class planters, blacks and native people – all had a dancing culture of their own. Dancing was also a part of the tradition of unusual hospitality which was one of the colonial planters’ most impressive characteristics of the time. Those colonials lived at great distances away from one another therefore, they suf-fered from their isolation and hankered for socializing. The symbolic meaning of the dance in colonial Virginia was so great that the non-verbal dance language was given the same significance to the historical interpretation as the numerous sermons left by the Puritans of New England had.

Keywords:  colonial Virginia, social hierarchy, social class, dancing schools, traditions of hospitality, minuet, jig.

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