As part of our mission to forward scholarship on New England community pastimes, we regularly conduct research through primary and secondary sources. A culmination of work exploring the role of dance as an element of community organizing in the 19th century, F&F member Lauren Stern will be presenting at the 2025 Dance Studies Association conference in Washington, DC this June.
Her talk abstract is below:
In Formation: Dance as a Tactic of Northeastern American Community Organizing in the 19th Century
In the Northeastern United States social dancing was a foundational element of societal conventions throughout the 19th century, appearing in private and public settings across all classes. The ubiquity of social dancing Northeastern communities allowed it to be treated as a common language in spaces where education, literacy, and background varied widely. To this end, 19th century dance existed in a liminal space: the same qualities of social dance that made it a powerful tool for community connection made it an equally optimal tool for enforcement of social norms; a tool for community action and oppression, depending on the participants.
These two sides of social dance - as a positive force for social movements and as a tool for upholding and perpetuating the status quo - will be placed in conversation through case studies of specific social dance traditions. These examples include: (1) industrialized labor, explored through solidarity-building in 1820s-30s mill workers’ dances; (2) financial support for social and political organizations, explored through 1860s-80s fundraising events; and (3) inverting and upholding social norms, explored through cross-dressing at 1880s-90s queer men’s dances and dance education as part of immigrant assimilation practices. Videos of reconstructed dances mentioned in period materials will provide a grounding point for discussion; just as dancing served both cultural progress and the status quo, modern “historical dance” practice can be used both to build inclusive historical engagement and to perpetuate white supremacist patriarchal narratives, an important consideration for ball organizers today.
If you attended our Equinox Ball in March, you may have heard a preview of some of this history! You can also see short videos discussing these topics on our social media.