A figured reel for twenty dancers
(Alan Jones)

The undated “Favourite Dance in the Comedy of The Honey Moon,” published for James Byrne in London, is found in the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. It provides the figures of a three-minute group dance for four “principal dancers” and ensemble of sixteen, set to an unattributed two-strain reel melody. The published version was intended for “schools and assemblies” and mentions no steps aside from indications for setting. The reconstruction will thus rely on step descriptions from Francis Peacock’s The Practice of Dancing of 1805. Though published in London, this reel has a special importance for the dance heritage of the United States. The choreographer, James Byrne, was the most important non-French dancing master active in the American theater in the 1790s. His most celebrated work, created in London and later performed in Philadelphia, was Oscar and Malvina, a heroic spectacle of medieval Scotland inspired by the poems of the imaginary bard Ossian and featuring colorful Scottish dances.

The choreography of Oscar and Malvina is lost. Fortunately, however, upon returning to London, Byrne published the choreography for this figured reel from the otherwise forgotten comedy, The Honey Moon. This document thus gives us a unique example of an important choreographer’s work. At the same time it sheds light on the history of Scottish dance and on the evolution of ensemble ballet choreography from a period with little documentation. Finally, it serves as an example of the “fancy dances” that were taught to young people in England and its colonies.

Alan Jones, Paris, France

Alan Jones is a Paris-based choreographer and researcher from New York. Having danced and choreographed in the Baroque idiom for many years, he is now principally devoted to reconstructing dances of the late 18th century, notably French ballets performed in the US in the 1790s.