Norwich Historical Dance returned to the annual Early Dance Circle Festival in 2025 with a performance centred on the Festival’s venue, Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.
A Frenchman’s Sojourn in Bury St. Edmunds, 1784
NHD’s short presentation at this year’s EDC festival in Bury St Edmunds was based on the real journal of a young Frenchman visiting Bury and East Anglia in 1784 with his tutor Monsieur de Lazowski. François de Rochefoucauld described Assembly Balls and the society who attended them, and he gives a wonderfully detailed account of provincial life in England at a very specific time.
La Duchesse de Liancourt reads her son’s letters regarding his visit to England which describe the scene behind her of dancers arriving at a Ball in Bury St. Edmunds.Francois de Liancourt takes part in the dance ‘Coventry Cross’, a dance by Norwich dancing master Mr. Bruckfield, during a Ball in Bury St. Edmunds.Monsieur de Lazowski regards the older lady who has attached herself to him as a dance partner for the dance, ‘Harvest Frolic’, a dance created by the Norwich dancing master Mr. T. B. Bruckfield.M. de Lazowski shows his paces in the Harvest Frolic.The horsemen go riding by on their way Norwich.M. de Lazowski with dancing partner in the Cotillion in Norwich Assembly BallA delightful Cotillion, ‘La Rene’, is completed and honours made.A change of partner and they join in the dance, ‘Arcadian Nuptials’ a dance by Thomas Straight.Live music for the dancers from Harriet and Stephen. Two dancers ‘stand out’ having progressed down the set in the ‘Arcadian Nuptials’.Francois has returned to Suffolk and Bury St. Edmunds at the end of his journey around the farms and towns of Norfolk and Suffolk and bids farewell to his audience.
