Welcome to the Victorian Dance Ensemble

"Fifteen wonderful years . . . and the best is yet to come!"

Thank you for visiting our website. The Victorian Dance Ensemble, the performing troupe of the Civil War Dance Foundation, is a group of about fifty living historians who share a love for the grace and beauty of mid-nineteenth century dancing. We are devoted to promoting and advancing educational, cultural, preservation, commemoration and performing arts programs related to the Civil War and Victorian eras.

The Civil War Dance Foundation is primarily a dance group but we do much more than dancing. We offer a wide range of Civil War and mid-Victorian related presentations, including fashion shows, clothing try-on, and displays of period jewelry, photography, newspapers, and militaria. Individual members also present lectures on a variety of topics.

This photograph of the Victorian Dance Ensemble was taken at the historic Dobbin House in Gettysburg by Rob Gibson in 2008. It is a ferrotype, a wet plate photograph, made with an 1860s camera and techniques. Since 1999, the Ensemble has performed at the Dobbin House and the Visitor Center as part of the Gettysburg National Military Park’s Annual Music Muster.

Please browse our site to learn more about us.  To subscribe to our bi-monthly e-newsletter, email CivilWarDance@verizon.net

We encourage anyone interested engaging the Civil War Dance Foundation for a performance or taking a dance class to contact us. We will be happy to speak with you.

To learn more about dancing during the Civil War, visit the Camp Curtin Historical Society website and read the article in The Bugle, the Society's quarterly journal http://www.campcurtin.org/pdfs/2009_1.pdf  

News

The SIXTEENTH Annual

Civil War MUSIC MUSTER

The Gettysburg National Military Park held its 16th Annual Civil War Music Muster on Saturday, August 21.  This year marked the twelfth appearance by the Victorian Dance Ensemble at this prestigious event.  Other performers included David Kincaid, the Susquehanna Travellers, and the 46th Pennsylvania Regiment Band.  Throughout the day, programs were offered at the historic Dobbin House (above), the GNMP Museum & Visitor Center, and the Pennsylvania Memorial.  Each of our performances was well-attended and we had eager volunteers for all of our audience participation dances.  Besides entertaining and educating visitors, this event also helps to inspire an interest in historic preservation and support for our National Parks.  Special thanks to NPS Ranger Evangelina Rubalcava-Joyce for an outstanding job coordinating this event involving dozens of entertainers and three locations.  

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Dancing with guests at the Visitor Center	Performing at the Dobbin House	Demonstrating the Lancer's Quadrille	46th Pennsylvania Regiment Band	Susquehanna Travellers	David Kinkaid "The Irish Volunteer"

The Seventh Annual

Civil War Preservation Ball

Thanks to everyone who made this event a success - guests, musicians, dancers, sponsors, and volunteers -
we raised six thousand dollars for the Gettysburg Monuments Project Endowment Trust Fund
while dancing in the spectacular setting of the rotunda of the Pennsylvania Capitol Building.
Dance music by the Philadelphia Brigade Band. 
Dance instruction by the Victorian Dance Ensemble.
Reception & intermission music by Mr. Lemuel's Red Mill Serenaders.

CWDF dancers and guests enjoy the Lancer's Quadrille
under one of the "Angels of Light" that flank
the grand staircase in the Capitol rotunda.

Special Displays: Pennsylvania State Archives, Camp Curtin Historical Society, Civil War Dance Foundation

Ball Sponsors: PNC Bank, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Buchart Horn, Inc., Malady & Wooten L.L.P.,
Cranmer Associates, Eckert Seamans, National Civil War Museum 

Next year's ball will be on Saturday, March 19,2011.
Mark your calendar and plan to attend!

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CORNWALL VIDEO

The Cornwall Iron Furnace is one of the oldest industrial complexes in the nation.  It produced iron from 1741 to 1883.  It is now operated by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) and has an excellent display of early iron-making technology.  Curtis and Peter Grubb, sons of the builder of Cornwall Furnace, built a mansion in 1773.  Robert Coleman acquired the business 1798 and his sons did extensive remodeling of the house in the 1860s. Included in the renovation was the addition of Italianate architectural elements (right). 

As part of the site’s educational programming, a new orientation video was needed for the visitor center.  Thanks to our long association with the PHMC, the CWDF was selected to portray the upper class life style of the Coleman family in the late 1850s.  The 15 minute video premiered to rave reviews on April 19 at a special reception attended by several of our dancers.  The video presents an outstanding description of the site, iron-making and its relationship to the development of America, and the life styles of the various classes of people involved in the industry.  Our folks are featured in several scenes, the longest being a party at the mansion that includes a little dancing.  We encourage everyone to visit this worthwhile historic site and watch for us in the orientation video.  For more information, see www.cornwallironfurnace.org.          

LINCOLN ORATORIO  

“For the People,” a new oratorio, premiered at the Majestic Theater in Gettysburg as part of the Gettysburg Address Dedication Day events on November 19, 2009.  A standing room only audience filled the 800 seat theater. Plans are already underway to “take the show on the road” and a performance is scheduled for February 2011 (details will be posted when they are available). 
 
VDE dancers performing the Lincoln Quadrille             To see a video of the dancing
on the stage of the Majestic Theatre                              http://www.buzzjones.net/audio.htm
Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College                                            and click on "President's Ball"

The oratorio was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and was composed by Dr. John William Jones, Professor at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College.  The musical tribute to Abraham Lincoln featured guest narrator Stephen Lang, who has become known for work both on stage and in films, including the movies Gettysburg, Gods and Generals, and the recently released Avatar. 

Dr John Jones (left) and
Stephen Lang (right)
with ladies of the Ensemble

Kathleen Sasnett, soprano, Jeffrey Fahnestock, tenor, and Roosevelt Credit, bass-baritone, performed the arias and recitative pieces of the oratorio.  Music was provided by the Spires Brass Band and the Sunderman Conservatory Woodwind Octet.  The Victorian Dance Ensemble, the performing troupe of the Civil War Dance Foundation, performed the “Lincoln Quadrille” for the President’s Ball movement of the piece. 

Following the oratorio, Jeff Shaara presented the award for the best fiction Civil War book of the year to Nick Taylor for his novel, The Disagreement.  The evening concluded with the 48th Annual Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture by Michael Burlingame speaking on "Abraham Lincoln: New Information, Fresh Perspectives." 

For other pictures of Dedication Day see http://www.palincoln.org/photo-gallery/  

DANCERS HONORED BY HARPERS FERRY

The Victorian Dance Ensemble was selected by Harpers Ferry National Historical Park as “Volunteers of the Month” for December 2009.  This year marked the VDE’s sixth year performing at the park.  “The award recognized the Ensemble's ongoing support of the park's public history programming to transport visitors back in time to an 1864 Civil War setting each December.  The Ensemble's ability to teach and lead park visitors in a park activity is one of the most interactive programs the park offers.”   The award was presented by Park Superintendent Rebecca L. Harriett (left) to CWDF President Annette Keener-Farley (right). Superintendent Harriett later enthusiastically joined in the dancing with the park visitors. 
See http://www.nps.gov/hafe/supportyourpark/volunteer-of-the-month.htm  

The Civil War Dance Foundation is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation, recognized by the
U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a Section 501(c)(3) not for profit charity.
The Foundation is also registered with the Pennsylvania Department of State,
Bureau of Charitable Organizations. 

All contributions to the Foundation are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

The organization's exempt purpose is to promote and advance educational, cultural, preservation, commemoration and performing arts programs related to the Civil War and Victorian eras.      

Civil War Dance Foundation
2 Westminster Blvd.
Camp Hill, PA 17011
Telephone 717-732-5330

Email: CivilWarDance@verizon.net

Last updated August 24, 2010