The Colonial Music Institute^(tm)
Bringing History to Life Through Music

“ . . . a scholarly, lively and very useful addition to the growing corpus of Country Dance books.” —Nicolas M. Broadbridge

24 dances interpreted for historical performance with modern recreational alternatives; music with chords and illustrations of original pages from Alexander's manuscript plus many illustrations of related dances from various editions of The Dancing Master, Neal's A Choice Collection (1726), and other contemporary sources. Other illustrations include portraits of personalities mentioned, period dancers, ballad sheets, and song lyrics. Includes biographical essay and notes on each dance; bibliography, references, glossary of figures, and short discussion of appropriate steps and movement for the period.

Seldom does the social dance historian find documentation for choreography, costume and venue in such detail as can be found in documents in the Alexander collection at the New-York Historical Society. Although textile scholars have long treasured the bright satins and braids on the sample cards that Mary Alexander used to import her shop stock in the mid-1730s in New York City, no one had noticed the country dances that her husband wrote down in 1730. These dances predate all known American social dance choreographies by nearly fifty years. This book presents the genealogical, historical, cultural and dance background for these important documents.