Beadle's Dime Ball-Room Companion and Guide to Dancing

# Beadle's Dime Ball-Room Companion and Guide to Dancing

This instructional manual, published by Beadle and Company in 1868, provides comprehensive guidance on ballroom deportment and dance technique. The guide addresses etiquette governing private parties, public balls, masquerades, and promenade concerts, offering formal invitation templates, wardrobe requirements, and conduct rules for both sexes. Ladies are advised to wear light fabrics—tarlatane, gauze, tulle, muslin—with color selection suited to complexion; married women may wear silk, while unmarried ladies should avoid it. Gentlemen must wear black dress-coats, black trousers, white neckties, and patent-leather boots. The text details arrangements for refreshments, cloakrooms with attendants, and music selection (preferably professional pianists supplemented by stringed instruments). Substantial instruction covers square dances—Quadrilles, the Lanciers, Virginia Reel, and the Prince Imperial—and round dances including waltzes, polkas, schottisches, and the redowa. A French terminology dictionary explains movements like "chassez," "dos-à-dos," and "moulinet," essential for executing figures properly.