There's going to be a big old party, and you'd better learn the dance.
Next year marks the centennial of Oklahoma's statehood, so a number of celebrations are planned. Some will be period balls. The period will be 1907, plus a couple of decades before and after. The balls will be dances that re-create the times and looks and music of previous periods.
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Oklahoma, a history-sensitive society anyway, is richly populated with living history re-enactors who dress accordingly and step across a timeline into older days. They're going to the balls; and like Cinderella, they have the outfits, but who taught Ella to glide across the floor in the palace?
Stephanie Kotzum, who works for the state Legislature in her 21st century job, was a dance student when she was a youngster, and a historical re-enactor since about five years ago.
She's fallen in love with the Civil War era. It's a gracious period, she says, in its manners and behavior and in its waltzes.
Often, a weekendlong Civil War re-enactment will include a ball, so it's become necessary for Stephanie and her fellow time-travelers to learn the appropriate steps.
"A lot of the social events centered around dance," she recited some history. In Civil War times, few ways were acceptable in which the opposite sexes could interact "politely and respectfully." Dancing was a romantic courtship ritual for which "no eyebrows were raised."
Dances were also a venue for learning etiquette and good manners bowing and curtsying, invitations to dance and thank-yous afterward.
Stephanie's ball gown and accessories are made of many layers. She dons stockings up to her knees, pantalets, chemise down to her knees; a corset and a corset cover, not a comfortable garment, but important in shaping a woman's figure to the look desirable in the late 19th century; petticoats, hoops, over-petticoat, and finally, the dress. (Remember Scarlett's green curtains?)
In fact, she said, the costumes changed the dances. When the ladies wore hoop skirts, the men had to step forward first while the ladies stepped back, to manage the huge skirts. By 1907, they left off the hoops, added a train instead. Then they could dance in less space.
Reels and graceful, gracious square dances in timely costumes are part of the history that will be showcased at the New Year's Eve Ball at the Oklahoma History Center, as well as other events planned in other cities next year.
Workshops are planned to teach the dances. Martha Ray, an OHS staff member and one of the Yesteryear Dance Troupe, leads the footwork in a series of workshops in various locations for family members of all ages.
You can fall in step with the dancers at historicdanceok@gmail.com. Ask them for information on upcoming Civil War weekends and on the March ball at Gov. Seay's mansion in Kingfisher, among others.
If you're coming to Oklahoma's party, you need to learn the dance.
Call me:475-3449 Fax me:475-3183
Write me:P.O. Box 25125, Oklahoma City, OK 73125
E-mail me: adefrange@oklahoman.com
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