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 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  

The Seventh Annual Civil War Preservation Ball

will be held in the rotunda of the Pennsylvania Capitol Building,

7:00 -10:00 pm, Saturday, March 20, 2010.

The ball supports the Gettysburg Monuments Project Endowment Trust Fund.

Music by the Philadelphia Brigade Band and

dance instruction by the Victorian Dance Ensemble.

Cost: $35 per person or $60 per couple.  Tickets limited to 120.  

For more information, email PreservationBall@yahoo.com

Get ready for the ball with

FREE DANCE CLASSES

February 7 and March 7, 2010

Sunday afternoons from 2 to 4 pm

at the National Civil War Museum, Harrisburg, PA

NOTE: You do not have to attend the ball to come to the dance classes

Reservations required. Email CivilWarDance@verizon.net

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.”

Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College

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 Harriett (left) to CWDF President Annette Keener-Farley (right). Superintendent Harriet 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.

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 February 6. 2010