According to the Stranger's Assistant and Guide to Bath of 1773

The Public Balls are two in each week during the season, one on Monday, at the New Rooms on the East Side of the Circus, the other on Friday, at Mr. Gyde's Rooms on the Walks, lately kept by Mr. Simpson. The subscription to each is one guinea for the season, for which the subscriber is entitled to three tickets. Each Lady and Gentleman on a ball night pays six-pence on their admission, which entitles them to tea.

The modern income equivalent of a season's subscription would be about £2000 and ball night admission about £60.

The following Rules were published by the Master of the Ceremonies for the regulation of the balls of Bath:

It being absolutely necessary that a propriety of dress should be observed at so polite an assembly as that of Bath, it is humbly requested of the company to comply with the following regulations:
That Ladies who dance minuets be dressed in a suit of clothes or a full-trimm'd sack, with lappets and dress'd hoops, such are usually worn at St. James's.

It is requested of those Ladies, who do not dance minuets, not to take up the front seats at the balls.
That no Lady dance country dances in a hoop of any kind; and those who chuse [sic] to pull their hoops off, will be assisted by proper servants in an apartment for that purpose.

That no Lady of Precedence has a right to take place in country dances after they have begun.
The places at the top of the room are reserved for Ladies of Precedence, of the rank of Peeress of Great-Britain or Ireland; it being found very-inconvenient to have seats called for, and placed before the company after the ball has been begun.

That Gentlemen who dance minuets do wear a full-trimmed suit of clothes, or French frock, hair or wig dressed with a bag.

Officers in the navy or army in their uniforms, are desired to wear their hair or wig en queue.

Ladies are not to appear with hats, nor Gentlemen with boots, in an evening after the balls are begun for the season; nor the Gentlemen with spurs at the Pump-Room in a morning.

The Subscription Balls will begin as soon as possible after six o'clock, and finish precisely at eleven, even in the middle of a dance.

That no hazard, or unlawful games, will be allowed in these Rooms, on any account whatsoever, and no cards on Sundays.

This relates only to the New Rooms.

That in case any subscriber to the balls should leave Bath before the season is over, such subscriber may, by leaving an order under their hand, transfer his or her tickets for the remaining part of the season.

W. Wade, M. C.

Mr Wade

Besides the public balls, before mentioned, there are others of a more private nature (whose tickets admit only the Subscribers) called Cotillon [sic] balls, which are held twice a week, viz., at Mr. Gyde's on Tuesday, and at the New Rooms on Thursday. The Subscription is half a guinea for the season, or as long as the subscription will hold out, for which tea is allowed.

The New Assembly-Rooms and Mr Gyde's Rooms are both open for walking in and playing at cards, each night in the week, except Sundays, when cards are not allowed, and Fridays, when the New Rooms are shut up. There are likewise two public card nights in the week, viz., on Tuesday at the New Rooms, and on Friday at Mr. Gyde's Room. On Sundays, there is a public Tea-drinking at each of the Rooms, to which every person is admitted, on paying sixpence. The subscription for walking in the Rooms for the season is ten shillings to each set of Rooms for the Gentlemen and five shillings for the Ladies. The subscription to Mr. Gyde's Room gives the subscriber admission to the walk by the riverside, formerly well known by the name of Simpson's Walk. There are two Concerts each week during the season; one at the New Rooms, and one at Mr. Gyde's. The subscription to which is one guinea for the Gentlemen, and half a guinea for the Ladies. The concert at the New Rooms is on Wednesday evening, and that at Mr. Gyde's on Tuesday, but these sometimes vary. The Theatre is situated in Orchard Street, and is the property of Mr. John Palmer, the Patentee. The days of performance are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. During the spring and summer seasons, a public garden, called Spring-Gardens, belonging to Mr. Purdie, and situated nearly opposite the Grove, across the River Avon, is open for walking in: The subscription is half-a-crown for the season.

Issues of Time Periods: Dates and Nomenclature

People often refer to Georgian Dance, Baroque Dance, Regency Dance, or Jane Austen Dancing.

The Georgian period covers some 116 years from 1714 to 1830. Some writers also talk of the long eighteenth century as anything from 1660 to 1830. The Baroque period is more difficult to pin down as it refers to a style rather than a period. Still, authorities seem to agree that, in terms of music, certainly in England, it refers to a period from about 1600 to 1750. The Regency, i.e. when Prince George was actually Regent, ran from 1812 to 1820; however, people frequently apply the term from much earlier than this, as the Prince of Wales' influence on fashion and style began to grow from about the time of the Regency Crisis of 1788. Some run the period up to the Prince's death as George IV in 1830.

References to Jane Austen dancing are even more confusing, as far as we know, Jane Austen attended her first ball in Basingstoke Town Hall in 1792 at the age of 16; she seems to have attended her first Bath Assembly in 1797, and many of her novels also seem to be set in the 1790s. However, most of the films of Austen novels seem to be set much later, usually around the date of publication, i.e. 1811 - 1817, but often use dances and dance music from much earlier, such as Mister Beveridge's Maggot, which has its origins in Playford's publications of the late 17th Century.

This blog tries to avoid much of this by referring to the dancing of particular decades within the long eighteenth century.

Two figures from the 1820s

Lead Down the Middle and through the Top Couple

The Lady and Gentleman at A B join hands and lead down two couples up again, lead through the top
couple, and take the situation of the Lady and Gentleman at C D. who move up to A B; this is performed with the side Step down the middle and up, and through the top to places, with three Chasse, Jette. and Assemble, eight bars.

Promenade

The Lady and Gentleman at A B cross hands before, that is, the Gentleman takes the right and left hands of the Lady with his right and left hands, (the right. hand must he placed uppermost;) the second and third couple do the same; then the whole three couples pass round in the line D to their places at C E F, the top couple at C taking the lead. This is performed with seven Chasses one Jette and Assemble, and requires eight bars.

N. B. The old method of promenading was by the Lady and Gentleman crossing their hands behind their backs, which. if not well performed, produces an inelegant effect, and is much more

laborious, and less graceful, than the above method, which the author introduced some years ago and is now generally followed.

From Thomas Wilson's "The Complete System of English Country Dancing"

Early depictions of the Quadrille

Dancing the quadrille. Detail from a series of illustrations from about 1821 attributed to William Hawkes Smith of Birmingham satirising the craze for the quadrille in the late Georgian period.

The quadrille was introduced in France around 1760: originally it was a form of cotillion in which only two couples were used, but two more couples were eventually added to form the sides of a square. The "quadrille des contredanses" was now a lively dance with four couples, arranged in the shape of a square, each couple facing the center. One pair was called the "head" couple, the adjacent pairs the "side" couples. A dance figure was often performed first by the head couple and then repeated by the side couples.

Reaching English high society around in the early part of the nineteenth century the quadrille became a craze. As it became ever more popular it evolved into forms that used elements of the waltz, including The Caledonians and The Lancers. 

Writing in 1815 the London Dancing Master Thomas Wilson says: "Quadrilles are of that Species of Dancing that at present claim a high precedence in Fashionable Circles ' and from their partaking greatly bf the style of Cotillions in their Composition may notwithstanding their more fashionable appellation and their more short and less complex Figures be properly considered as petit (sic) or short Cotillions."
By the time of these illustrations although there was an enormous amount of quadrille music the form of the dance had settled down as consisting five parts named:

1. Le Pantalon ("Trousers")
2. L’été ("Summer")
3. La Poule (The Hen")
4. La Pastourelle ("The Shepherd Girl")
5. Finale

Sometimes La Pastourelle was replaced by another figure; La Trénis or occasionally  this was added as a 6th part.
For the most part, the figures and steps of each of the parts remained the same whatever music was being used. However, some publishers, notably the Whites of Bath used dancing teachers to create new choreography which they offered as an alternative to the standard set.

Of the Step called Assemblé

"THIS step is occasionally performed in all the positions, but at present I shall only describe it as performed in the fifth position.

Place your feet in the fifth position, the body erect, (as already directed for the deportment), and the knee:; well turned outward; rest the body entirely on the leg that is before, taking care to balance yourself well on the haunch; this will disengage the leg that is behind; bend on the leg that is before, and at the same time raise the foot that is behind to the point, keeping the knee well turned outward; extend the knee of the leg that is behind, by sliding the foot on the point just to the second position, where it should arrive, the knee and instep extended, at the same moment you cease to bend on the other leg; then raise yourself on the point of the foot you stand upon, and at same time slide the foot from the second position, into the fifth position before, when both knees should be alike extended; gradually place the heels, keeping them well forward, that you may form the fifth position more easily; finish the step with both, knees straight. This step should be performed with both feet alternately.

To perform the Assemblé in the fifth position behind, observe the same -rule, disengaging the foot that is before, and entering it behind.

This step, as an exercise, gives steadiness, and the habit of bending and extending the knees and insteps."

THE ART OF DANCING; WITH
A DESCRIPTION OF THE
PRINCIPAL FIGURES IN The Quadrille
Alexander Strathy 1822

Strathy was an Edinburgh dancing master who announced in an advert in the Caledonian Mercury of 24th September that he had just returned from Paris where he had acquired an additional variety steps tastefully arranged for the Quadrille.

The School Curriculum

As in these examples, most Georgian schools included dance in their programme of learning

From nearly fifty years earlier, in 1772

The dancing master referred to in the last advert was Francis Fleming. In 1746, he was a prominent local musician who had married Ann Roland, who had had a successful career as a dancer on the London stage.

From the time of her marriage to Fleming, Ann Roland had been developing a career as a dance teacher at some of the many private schools in the area. It appears that her husband supported her in this, probably by providing music. Together, they initiated annual benefit concerts and balls at the assembly rooms.

After his wife's death, Fleming continued to provide dancing tuition, periodically organising balls at Wiltshire's rooms to give his young scholars a chance to show off their paces before their admiring parents and friends. His daughters Anna and Kitty supported him in this.

Dance in the 1820's

Thomas Wilson, a leading dancing master of the late Georgian period describes country dancing in his book The Complete System of Country Dancing published in 1820, the year George IV came to the throne, in the following terms:

“A COUNTRY DANCE, As it is named, is almost universally known as the national Dance of the English and as correctly known, is constructed on mathematical and other scientific principles, clearly displayed in its operative effect, when properly and, well performed.

It is formed of two principal features, viz. Figures and Steps, which for, the execution, government, and. display of their several movements and evolutions, are united with their indispensable auxiliary, music: but, independent of the, scientific structure of the Dance, there are secondary features, named Ornaments and Embellishments, and which are necessary to the performance of the Figures and• Steps to the music, as they apply and are connected with each• other in a graceful and easy manner.

The Figures, which form various evolutionary movements in circular, serpentine, angular, and straight lines. are formed into a variety of different lengths and require a variety of different steps or movements of the feet in their performance to music appropriately adapted thereto.”