Artifact Friday: West Point Winter Hop Dance Card
- Elle Euler
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
The festivities around the holidays never ceased no matter what time or place you
happened to be. Parties and events typically fill up our schedules during this time just as it did
over a hundred years ago for others. A nostalgic item from holiday parties is a winter hop dance
card found at holiday events from a different time period. A dance card is a small booklet that
usually has a string attached to it that would be tied to a ladies wrist at different parties and
social gatherings. These booklets would be used to keep track of every dance partner a lady
might have, typically there were multiple lines in these booklets that a woman would fill in with
her different dance partners name, the music that was played, and where the event was held.
Not only would this dance card keep track of everyone who a woman might dance with but it
was also used as memorabilia to remember the event after it was over. These cards also came
with some social implications as well, if a card was fully filled up it would signal that this
particular woman was quite popular. However, if a lady danced too often with the same partner
it was seen as improper. These cards became popular starting back in the 18th century but
stuck around for almost two hundred years after. The decline of popularity fro
m the cards
happened in the 20th century, around the 1920s and 1930s. Originally, the dance cards would
be used in higher society, places like balls and galas would be sufficient venues to adjourn a
dance card. Into the 20th century however, many dance cards would be used at public balls and
college dances making it more accessible to the public and showed the shifting social order of
the time. In recent media and TV shows you can see characters branding these dance cards.
Most famously used in Bridgerton, it plays a critical role in the character's choosing of dance
partners, when to dance, and how to not be a wallflower. The winter hop dance card here in our
collection can show us the history of the changing social order of the 20th century and the
holiday times of the season that has followed for generations. During the holiday time, there
have been many traditions and parties that follow a different time in history that can remind us of our new traditions being made every day.
Comments