Thursday, August 11, 2011

Jane Austen Week - Thursday: My Favorite Dance Scenes


One of the great things about Jane Austen films is the dance scenes! Here I've included my favorites!

Pride and Prejudice (1995): Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy Dance


Love this scene! It's probably one of my favorite scenes from Pride and Prejudice. It's very brilliantly done. You have a dance (which looks complex) and while that's going on, you have Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy verbally sparring. It's very interesting to watch.

Pride and Prejudice (1995): The Mr. Collins Dance

3:15 - 5:00  Another Pride and Prejudice Dance that I love. I love that it's so bouncy and happy... Plus Mr. Collins dancing is just funny!


Sense and Sensibility (1995): London Ball Dance


Starts at 6:00. Sure, this scene isn't accurate to the book (if I remember correctly, Robert Ferrars wasn't at the ball, and Elinor didn't dance with Willoughby), but I still like it. The song that plays is one of my favorites in the Sense and Sensibility Soundtrack.

Emma: The Town Square and The Ship's Cook

Love these songs and dances! Probably The Ship's Cook is my favorite (which starts at 3:15), but I also love The Town Square. They're both such light-hearted songs and I could listen to them for a really long time! Plus, this is also a really good scene from Emma. I love the part when Mr. Knightley "saves" Harriet.

Northanger Abbey: First Dance

Ends at 2:40. This is the dance after Catherine first meets Mr. Tilney. I kind of like the music and the dance, but it is a little different from the book (at least to my memory). Both J.J. Field and Felicity Jones acted wonderfully in this dance scene!

Those are my favorite dance numbers. Which ones are you favorites? Are there any that you would have included in here? Leave a comment!

 God Bless,
 God Bless, Miss Elizabeth Bennet

12 comments:

  1. Those are all my favourites too! I agree, the Mr Collins one is very funny: "Other way, Mr Collins!" and the way it then cuts to Mr Darcy smirking :') Ah, I love that adaptation of Pride and Prejudice!

    ~Abby

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  2. Definitely would have included "The Last Dance," Emma and Knightley's. :) Love those P&P ones!

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    1. Do you recall the name of the last dance? The first is Town Square then Ship's Cook, and then the slow dance with Mr. Knightly. Are these actual musical pieces or are they fictional for the story?

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    2. As far as I know, they were made up for the miniseries. I think it's simply called "The Last Dance".

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    3. If you don't mind my budding in here-- the song for the dance is called "The Last Dance" (it was a song written for the soundtrack by Samuel Sim) but the dance, as declared by Mrs. Elton right beforehand, was "Ginny's Market." I'm not sure it's actually an authentic dance, but since the miniseries came out the instructions can be found online-- at least last time I checked. :)

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    4. Melody,
      You are always welcome here. Thank you for the info! :-D

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  3. haha Ooh! Those are all great choices, dear!! Although, in all honesty...the dance that Darcy and Lizzy perform while arguing *isn't* really that hard. :) My siblings and I have it fairly mastered! heehee
    Oooh, and I LOVE the dance with Mr. Tilney and Catherine...♥

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  4. Dance scenes! I love them! :) I remember when I first got into JA stuff, I was thinking "that kind of dancing looks like soo much fun!" Little did I know I'd actually get to do it! :)
    Oh, and I asked the instructor about doing Emma and Mr Knightley's dance, and we're doing it tonight! I'm excited...

    Speaking of which, I agree with Charity...Ginny's Market (or "The Last Dance on the soundtrack) is probably my favorite JA movie dance of all time!!

    "Other way, Mr. Collins!"
    (Just had to throw that in)
    I love how Mr Darcy was trying not to laugh...ha

    So many of the dance songs in Northanger were in P&P! The song in the dance you put there, I've heard before, because I've danced to it...it was a different dance though.

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  5. Oh, haha! After writing that I saw that Abby said almost the same thing.

    Oh, about Mr. Beveridge's Maggot...I found out they did it at the last ball (it was so cool, a lot of people dressed Regency) and I didn't know what it was...and I didn't do it...I think I must have been out of the room at the time, or I would have recognized the song. I was so sad!! :( Although I heard it wasn't quite the same as in the movie.

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  6. Ahhh yes! Yay! I adore the dances in Jane Austen adaptations! They are by far my favorite scenes of the films and I've watched them over and over again! I adore them so much that a few years ago I spent a lot of time researching what the dances were called and what moves were used in each one. I got my younger sister involved and taught her some of the dances, one of our favorites is the Mr. Collin's Dance, it's so much fun to act silly like Mr. Collins! The dances in Emma (2009) are delightful! And the dances in Northanger Abbey are also lovely! I would include the dances from Emma (1997), the whole Highbury Ball scene has the most historically accurate dances I've seen so far. I love 'Juice of Barley', the dance where Mark Strong as Mr. Knightley "rescues" Samantha Morton are Harriet. Those dances are also fairly easy to learn and I love the tunes!
    This was such a lovely post!

    ~Miss Laurie :)

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  7. Miss Laurie,

    I like that dance from the brown-hair Emma too! In fact I've done it before. It is very fun. It was the same song too, and we were in the middle of it when it suddenly occured to me that it was on Emma! It was such a fun discovery!

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  8. Oh I love the Dance scenes! I love all the P&P 1995 ones. The one where Lizzie dances with Mr. Darcy is my favorite I love the music!! :) Sense and Sensibility 1995 are a my favorite ones too. It has been a while since I read the book.
    I like the Dance scenes from Emma 1996 with Gwyneth Paltrow.

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