Historically accurate dancing in Austen adaptations

YouTuber Cassiane Mobley broke down the historical accuracy of each of the dance scenes in several Austen adaptations as well as some insights into the ones in Bridgerton and was gracious enough to share with us as seen below...she also begins with the main things they all get wrong:

5 things adaptations get wrong

The History of English Country Dance pt. 1

Emma part 1

Emma part 2

Pride and Prejudice part 1

Pride and Prejudice part 2

Pride and Prejudice part 3

Northanger Abbey part 1

Northanger Abbey part 2

Dancing as written by Austen part 1

Dancing as written by Austen part 2

Dancing in Bridgerton part 1

Dancing in Bridgerton part 2

The Dancing Life of Jane Austen

"The Empress" and "Corsage"

If you were unaware, Netflix has a series on Empress Elizabeth called "The Empress" (2022, and based on the novel), while on Amazon Prime Video, there's "Corsage" which came out last year...do check both out if you're interested!

"Vanity Fair" and adaptations

First published serially from 1847 to 1848, “Vanity Fair” is William Makepeace Thackeray’s most famous work in which the author reflects his interest in deconstructing the notions of literary heroism of his era. It is the story of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, who have just completed their studies at Miss Pinkerton’s Academy for Young Ladies and are beginning to embark upon the world. The simple-minded nature of Amelia, who comes from a wealthy family, is contrasted with the strong-willed nature of Becky, who will stop at nothing to climb the social ranks of English society. The novel takes its name from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, one of the most famous work of Thackeray’s day, in which a town called Vanity is depicted to represent man’s sinful attachment to worldly things. Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, “Vanity Fair” is Thackeray’s classic satire of the societal trappings of Victorian England, self described as a novel without a hero.

1998 trailer

Trailer

2004 (rent or buy)

 

 2018 trailer 

Episode 1

 

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

"Dangerous Liaisons" and adaptations

Published just years before the French Revolution, Laclos's great novel of moral and emotional depravity is a disturbing and ultimately damning portrayal of a decadent society. Aristocrats and ex-lovers Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont embark on a sophisticated game of seduction and manipulation to bring amusement to their jaded lives. While Merteuil challenges Valmont to seduce an innocent convent girl, he is also occupied with the conquest of a virtuous married woman. Eventually their human pawns respond, and the consequences prove to be more serious—and deadly—than the players could have ever predicted.

Trailer

1988 (buy or rent...this is one of my favorites)

2023 trailer

Queen Victoria's Daughters series

Mary Hart Perry’s acclaimed series of romantic Victorian thrillers continues with Seducing the Princess, inspired by the life of Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter, Beatrice. Painfully shy and lonely, convinced she is unattractive and unloved, the dutiful Princess Beatrice finally accepts that she will never marry and vows to devote herself to the queen in Victoria's waning years. In fact, her mother has secretly discouraged suitors for Beatrice’s hand. Just when she has all but given up on love and happiness, she meets Henry Battenberg, a dashing nobleman from the Continent who matches wits with the aging Victoria and risks his life and liberty to woo Bea.

London, 1888: A year after Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee terror mounts in the city's slums. A killer has butchered two prostitutes, the crimes brutal even by London's hardened standards. Rumors of the murders reach Princess Vicky, daughter of Queen Victoria and grieving widow of the German Emperor Frederick III. When her niece Princess Maud visits, she brings with her even worse news―the Metropolitan Police have a suspect. It's Vicky's nephew, Crown Prince Eddy. Desperate to clear her family's name, Vicky rushes back to England.

Detective Inspector Thomas Edmondson believes there is a royal cover-up behind the killings. He will stop at nothing to expose the truth and bring a murderer to justice before he can kill again. But when Vicky joins him in searching for the man who will become known as Jack the Ripper, neither of them foresee the overpowering attraction that will draw together the royal and the commoner―or the danger their love puts them in.