The William and Mary Heritage Dancers was established in 1997 as the Williamsburg Heritage Dancers at William and Mary. The William & Mary Heritage Dancers is a student group that meets regularly to learn and perform a historic style of social dancing known as English Country Dance (ECD). ECD was revived on a hobbyist level at the turn of the twentieth century, and seems to have returned to the Williamsburg area in the mid-twentieth century. The student group does both reconstructions of dances recorded in historical sources and modern dances composed in the historic style. The club also became a forum for students to compose and try out their own original "English Country" dances. A personal account of the group by Jenna Simpson, one of the students to reestablish the group in 2006, is available in the collection.
Officers:
Spring & Fall 2007
President: Jenna Simpson
Vice-President: Sarah McCartney
Secretary: Melissa Pocock
Treasurer: Mary Wakeman-Linn
Spring & Fall 2008
President: Jenna Simpson
Vice-President: Kelsey Bartiss
Secretary: Katrina Hudy
Treasurer: Melissa Pocock (spring), Paul Matson (fall)
Spring & Fall 2009
President: Jenna Simpson
Vice-President: Amy Green
Secretary: Sarah McCartney (spring), Katrina Hudy & Kelsey Bartiss (fall)
Treasurer: Paul Matson
Acc. 2009.176 received from Jenna Simpson on 4/30/2009.
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William and Mary Heritage Dancers Records, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
A t-shirt received as part of the collection was transferred to the University Archives Artifact Collection.
This collection includes records from the William and Mary Heritage Dancers, a student group that performs reconstructions of dances recorded in historical sources and modern dances composed in the historic style. The club also became a forum for students to compose and try out their own original "English Country" dances.
Acc. 2009.176 contains the student group's revised bylaws, a history of the club by graduate student Jenna Simpson who was one of the students to reestablish the group in 2007, fliers, a printout of the group's webpage from 2000 (printed in 2009), a number of photographs of members dancing, and other related material. Electronic versions of some of the records were received along with print copies and will be available in the digital repository at a future date.
The portion Acc. 2009.176 received electronically is available in the William and Mary digital repository.
Acc. 2010.392: Contains color photographs of members of the William and Mary Heritage Dancers at various events during the 2009 to 2010 academic year. The events include the Jefferson Ball in Richmond, Virginia, the annual Jane Austen Evening, George Washington Ball in Williamsburg, Virginia, and an intercollegiate dance party with students at Randolph-Macon College. Also included in this accession is a club history report for the 2009-2010 academic year by President Jenna Simpson.