We're a convivial group of men and women based in central London, who learn 18th century social dances and perform them in authentic costume to magnificent baroque music, recapturing the charm and playfulness of the Georgian ballroom.
The era is known for neat elegance but also boisterous fun, and both are reflected in the popular dances of the time. Styles like the minuet, sarabande and bourrée, with their distinctive rhythms and intricate geometric patterns, allowed fashionable dancers to show off their fine technique and graceful bearing. But later in the evening, everyone could join in the simpler and more lively contradanses - a rare opportunity to socialise and flirt, unrestrained by chaperones!
Although these dances appeared at court balls, provincial assembly rooms and private parties across Europe and its colonies for more than 250 years, they're now all but forgotten. We find them fascinating, challenging and enchanting - and so, a stone's throw from the site of some of the first performances, we bring them back to life.
We owe our existence to a chap named Simon Caradoc Evans, a successful businessman with a fondness for early music who became enthralled by the baroque dancing he saw at the Spitalfields Music Festival one year. According to legend, he had the idea of establishing a minuet company while cooking his breakfast, at the very moment an egg slipped out of his hand and fell with a splat to the floor...
An advert duly appeared in the national newspapers calling for people with a love of dance, noting reassuringly that "the minuet steps are not difficult". The very first class was held in February 1982 and many happy years of minuetting have ensued, with performances all over the UK as well as tours overseas. When Simon passed away the company was reorganised along more democratic lines, and continues to provide magical 18th century moments and absurd anecdotes and as we look forward to our fourth decade.
We'd be nothing without our dedicated teachers to keep us all on our toes. They decipher cryptic diagrams when we're trying to bring original dances to life, and choreograph new ones for us to the music of the era.
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