Regency Dancing At The Salem Maritime Festival

First, you have to pretend it’s still summer and the air is still warm. Once you feel the warmth, come back with me to the Regency period with a performance by The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers at the Salem Maritime Festival back in August. The day was cloudy, but not too warm, and was interrupted mid-afternoon by a bit of strong rain (during which many of our dancers had wandered off and I sat under a tree and watched the rain fall).

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Opening the gate to our own historic house front yard performing space.
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I brought along the kites I’d made in 2013 and though we didn’t fly them they looked nice on our picnic blankets. The strings had become all tangled over the last 18 months and thankfully some others found the untangling task rather enjoyable.
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We were pleasantly surprised to be provided with two live musicians who not only played for us, but also sang.
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While visiting a neighboring house we took the opportunity to peer at the modern visitors just as they peer at us!
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Another participant in the day’s events snapped a few sneaky photos of us through the window of the neighboring West India Goods Store where she was set up for the day. Photo by Sew 18th Century.

I wore my 1812 square neck dress accessorized with a pink silk ribbon sash that I put together earlier this year in conjunction with a post I wrote about variety in Regency ribbon sashes. I think this is the first picture of me wearing the dress with the sash that has made it to the blog. Only took about 7 months!

10 thoughts on “Regency Dancing At The Salem Maritime Festival

  1. Oh how beautiful your dress is! It looks like you all had a very delightful day! The kites look so fun and I would have been one of those helping to untangle the mess! hahahahaha!! Thank you for the pictures and the chance to imagine a nice warm summers day!
    Blessings!
    Gina

  2. That looks like such fun event with all the dancing and entertainment (including the untangling of the kites)
    Thank you very much for sharing the photos.

  3. What a lovely looking event! I’m so envious of your dance group and all the things you get to go to. There is so little here!

    That photo of you untangling kite strings is spectacular – it looks like a movie still!

    1. Ooo, thanks! It is such an amazing blessing to be so near a group that regularly hosts these lovely events. I wish everyone could come to them! Despite not having formal events nearby, I do love your photo shoots and stories. They express lots of creativity!

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