Offered without my opinion on what I'm about to describe:
I think the issue is not just chivalry and the leads thing (which is not a practical issue in the Regency ballroom) but also recreating the feeling of a Regency-era ball, wherein ladies would be seen dancing together, because hi, Napoleanic Wars, a shortage of appropriate men at an event is perfectly plausible and the dance manuals of the time mention this and state that it is acceptable for ladies to dance together. However, you would never see two men of the time dancing together in the ballroom, even if somehow a situation arose in which there was a surplus of men. The exception to this, of course, is completely not applicable to the Regency and relates to social entertainments in certain parts of the American West later in the century. Then you did have men dancing together, sometimes with one party in drag, in communities that were mostly male (railroad tracklaying camps, mining communities, etc.)
Other random points:
If you ever do full, proper, fitted Regency men's garb, the neck thing is really severe. I say this as someone who is comfortable with the physical issues of it (um, I sort of have a kink about it that's the exact opposite of your issues), and I find it unpleasantly restrictive, as I often have to turn my whole body in order to face someone because I can't turn my neck. It's absurd.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2009-10-19 08:48 pm (UTC)I think the issue is not just chivalry and the leads thing (which is not a practical issue in the Regency ballroom) but also recreating the feeling of a Regency-era ball, wherein ladies would be seen dancing together, because hi, Napoleanic Wars, a shortage of appropriate men at an event is perfectly plausible and the dance manuals of the time mention this and state that it is acceptable for ladies to dance together. However, you would never see two men of the time dancing together in the ballroom, even if somehow a situation arose in which there was a surplus of men. The exception to this, of course, is completely not applicable to the Regency and relates to social entertainments in certain parts of the American West later in the century. Then you did have men dancing together, sometimes with one party in drag, in communities that were mostly male (railroad tracklaying camps, mining communities, etc.)
Other random points:
If you ever do full, proper, fitted Regency men's garb, the neck thing is really severe. I say this as someone who is comfortable with the physical issues of it (um, I sort of have a kink about it that's the exact opposite of your issues), and I find it unpleasantly restrictive, as I often have to turn my whole body in order to face someone because I can't turn my neck. It's absurd.
Also, I can teach you how to smile like a boy.