SanDiegoVintageDanceSociety


	Victorian Weekend Registration Form
	SDVDS Photo Gallery

Historic Dance Week on Mackinac Island, May 5-9, 2013

Our latest dance week event, at the fabulous Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI, a unique venue really somewhere else in time, is now history. This one time only dance week followed on the heels of the Grand Hotel's own Titanic Weekend, an amazing weekend of food, fashion and history. Stay tuned for our next unique and amazing dance week to be scheduled at another fantastic location summer of 2015.

Members List:

President:
Mary Jennings

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	WALTZNSUCH
	LIVELY ARTS HISTORY ASSOCIATION
	SWING DANCE IN SAN DIEGO

SanDiegoVintageDanceSociety

DANCING
THROUGH
TIME
The San Diego Vintage Dance Society is a 501C nonprofit organization dedicated the study and preservation of historic social dances of the 19th and early-mid 20th Centuries. We are available for special dance performances, most recently at the San Diego Symphony, and Lyceum Theater. Our group also sponsors vintage dance events complete with authentic live music, encouraging appropriate historic style attire and behavior by attendees.

We periodically host special weekend dance festivals which include lessons as well as themed dances. Our last dance weekend was April 2012, the Titanic 100 Year Anniversary Commemoration Weekend. The weekend included a chartered boatride with exclusive lunch at the historic Coronado Boathouse Restaurant, a concert/dance with the incomparable Ian Whitcomb, and a Ragtime era Grand Ball with the Heliotrope Ragtime Orchestra. Our New Year's Eve dance party with a Casablanca theme, "Rick's Cafe Americain," was also a fun, fun time.

We have also hosted 5 dance weeks, each one unique. Our last historic/vintage dance week in 2011,on the fabulous Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor is now history! As always we had incomparable vintage dance instruction, plus evening themed events, authentic live music, tea & much more!

Join the San Diego Vintage Dance Society on Facebook to get event notices and updates on future events. The link is in the left column at the bottom.

Victorian Weekend, November 1-3, 2013
Join us Friday afternoon, November 1, for the start of a magical back-in-time weekend celebrating the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras. We plan to have lectures, a dance class, picnics and croquet on the lawn, dinner, and even a fabulous Saturday evening ball with authentic, live music. There will be an optional Tea Dance offered for Sunday afternoon at another location. Participants are strongly encouraged to 'dress the eras'(1870-1910) for the entire weekend, including day wear and evening wear, as appropriate. Distressingly modern clothing: jeans, shorts, tennis shoes, mini dresses, tee shirts are NOT APPROPRIATE. This event is limited in attendance, and we're sure to sell out. Attendees must purchase the entire package (no 'ball only' tickets).

Our festive weekend will take place at the Glen Tavern Inn in the historic hamlet of Santa Paula, just east of Ventura. This charming Tudor-Craftsman Inn was built in 1911, designed by famed architects Burns and Hunt and funded by a consortium of twenty-five wealthy townsmen, brings to mind an English manor house, and provides the perfect setting for our weekend.

Cost of the weekend program is $90 per person (hotel is separate, below) and includes all lectures, classes, plus Saturday night dinner and dancing. Breakfasts, lunches, and Friday dinner are on your own, in the Inn's restaurant, or in town. To register for the weekend, use the form listed in the left-hand margin. Sunday's Tea Dance is optional and located off-site in Glendale (extra fee). Rooms at the Inn are available for $79 per night. For Hotel reservations ONLY, the Inn's website is http://www.glentavern.com/html/historic-hotel-santa-paula-america.asp. You must purchase your event packet through us: do not contact the Hotel for this. If the Glendale Tavern is sold out, as we expect, a nearby alternative is the lovely Santa Paula Inn B & B: http://www.santapaulainn.com/

Glen Tavern Inn

History of the Setting.
At the time the Inn was built, Santa Paula was growing and prospering as an oil town, and was headquarters to Union Oil. The Inn was erected directly opposite the train depot to provide accommodations to the many newcomers lured to the area by the burgeoning oil and citrus industries, and to provide a gathering place for Santa Paula's growing high society circles.
During Prohibition, the Inn retained something of its Wild West origins as the third floor was utilized as a speakeasy, brothel & gambling parlor. Many legends stem from this era, including tales of murdered prostitutes and shootouts between unruly gamblers.
In the 1930s, Hollywood discovered the valley hamlet of Santa Paula. Its ruggedly picturesque vistas and hills – improbably close to the sprawl of Los Angeles - provided a setting for numerous Westerns. During this era, the Glen Tavern Inn hosted such notables as Carol Lombard, John Wayne, Houdini and canine thespian, Rin Tin Tin, who boasted his own suite long before “pet-friendly” entered the hospitality lexicon.

Vintage Dance Lessons - FREE!
There are (nearly)free beginning/intermediate vintage dance lessons on Fridays in Balboa Park at the Casa Del Prado Bldg. Rm 207, from 7:30-9:45 PM. Learn basic dance steps as well as choreographies.

Contact WaltznSuch link(left) for more information.

SD Vintage Dance Week

Balboa Park Club

VIENNESE NIGHTS: A Ball
February 2, we again experienced the enchantment of a traditional 19th Century Victorian Ball, celebrating the music and dances of the Strauss family and their contemporaries. San Diego's own Grand Pacific Waltz Orchestra,under the direction of Mr Joe Dyke, provided LIVE authentic music for Waltzes, Polkas, Quadrilles, Schottisches and more! Mid-late 19th Century ball wear was much in evidence, with everyone dressed to kill. The fabulous Ms. Joan Walton of San Jose, California was our Dance Mistress for the evening. Ms Walton, an authority on historic vintage dances, also taught a basic class in "survival waltz", as well as the Quadrilles of the evening, in the afternoon prior to the ball.
The Ball and afternoon class both took place in our favorite grand ballroom, the Balboa Park Club, a 12,000 sf 1915 ballroom in famous Balboa Park, here in San Diego. While clothing of the 19th Century is always appreciated at our events, it is not required. However, this is always a formal event, and formal wear is required (no jeans, tennis shoes, mini-skirts, sandals, etc. allowed, please.)
Our next Viennese Nights Ball is scheduled for January 25, 2014. Tickets will be available in the Fall 2013.

Viennese Nights Ball

Richard Powers: Musings & Thoughts on Dance
Going Out Dancing – How to have more fun; how to let your dance partners have more fun!A few (MUST) ground rules:
Some dances travel in line-of-direction, like waltz, polka, one-step and foxtrot. For these dances... 1) The fast lane is on the outside. Please don't block or slow down the traffic. Dance in the fast lane only if you can keep up.... don't be a rock in the rapids! 2) The slow lane or stationary steps are in the center, the eye of the hurricane.
If you're not dancing for a moment, please clear completely off the floor. The dancers will appreciate it.
Floorcraft-- Please take extra care not to bump other couples. i.e. don't step on others, don't rock-step back onto others, don't throw your partner into someone else (!) and don't ram another couple (!!). Always be aware of the others around you. Guys, look where you are going to lead her before you send her there. Don't start a move unless there is room. Protect her from collisions.
In swing, don't do aerials or kicks in crowded conditions. Even if you have lots of space, never attempt to lead an aerial with someone unless you've carefully practiced that move with them.
Don't wear heavy perfumes and colognes to a social dance. Most people don't consider it very sociable, and some have allergies. And similarly...Dance hygiene! Need we say more? (Your partners may find it hard to dance while holding their breath.)
Further(optional)suggestions:
We encourage you to dance with people you don't already know. Most dancers will be happy to dance with someone new.
If you are far more experienced than your partner, dance for your partner's style and comfort. Yes, some challenges and surprises are fun, but being pushed around uncomfortably isn't.
Give your partners all of your attention. Let them know, somehow, that you'd rather be dancing with them than someone else.
Dancing is all about having fun. Criticizing your partner isn't fun. Don't give an impromptu lesson unless asked.
If there is live music, don't treat the musicians like canned music. Let them know that you appreciate their presence and their talent.
Relax. Don't get flustered, keep moving, laugh at what happened if appropriate but keep dancing. Truly exceptional dancers will almost always make a mistake look like something they planned if at all possible. There are no mistakes in dancing, only new moves.
Dance for your partner. But also dance with your partner — have fun yourself and let your partner know that you're having fun with them.
Happiness itself is the way to dance and to live. It isn't something you try to get from dancing or living. Happiness is something that you bring to dancing, and to life.

— Richard Powers

SANDIEGOVINTAGEDANCESOCIETY
San Diego, CA

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