Activities

Histoire de bal brings a dose of dance, history and fun straight to your screen. The blog provides you with information on the history of ballroom dancing, in articles that are both in-depth and accessible to everyone. What’s more, I’ll be giving you tips and tricks to help you improve.

But don’t stop at the virtual! Get practical with Histoire de bal’s physical activities.

What I offer:

Historical dance workshop

The dance workshop enables dancers of all levels to make rapid progress. Both beginners and advanced dancers will find something to suit them. I’ll guide you step by step to the next level, whether your aim is to improve your style or broaden your repertoire.

Repertoire from the fifteenth century to the 1920s, with a strong affinity for the contredanses of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Achievements:

  • 2015: Revision workshop for the Voyage Dansé;
  • 2016: Mini-workshops English country dance (17th & 18th century) and First French Empire;
  • 2017: Dance workshops for advanced and beginners levels at the Jane Austen Festival (Néthen);
  • 2018: Renaissance dance workshop in Liège for the DAPO federation ;
  • 2021: Multi-era workshop as part of Voyage Dansé 2021;
  • 2022: Four sessions on English contry dances for the Pas d’la Yau world dance workshops;
  • 2022: 1900s dances workshop in Liège for the Dapo federation;
  • 2023: Four sessions on English contry dances for the Pas d’la Yau world dance workshops;
  • 2023: Dance sessions “here and there”, Lindy Hop, Irish dance & First French Empire for the Petit Ballet de Silly
  • 2023-2024: Four sessions on English contry dances for the Pas d’la Yau world dance workshops;
  • 2024-2025: Four sessions on English contry dances for the Pas d’la Yau world dance workshops.

Lectures and talks

The word ‘lecture’ is a frightening one, but the idea is simply to discover the dances and balls of a given era through texts, images and videos (from archives or modern movies). Audiences always enjoy these dynamic talks.

Achievements:

  • 2017, Laeken Library, « From country dance to Quadrille: dancing in Jane Austen’s time »;
  • 2017, Jane Austen Festival : « From country dance to Quadrille (…) » (expanded);
  • 2019, Voyage dansé à Downton Abbey : « Dancing in the 1910s and 1920s »;
  • 2019, Laeken Library : « A ball in 1922. Dancing in the time of Gatsby »;
  • 2021, Artecole pour tous : « Regency dancing in the work of G. Cruikshank » [online];
  • 2022, Voyage dansé au 19ème siècle: « The quadrille de la Paix (1859) »;
  • 2023, Voyage dansé sous la Révolution américaine: « Dancing in the 13 colonies »;
  • Not to mention the blog posts, of course!

Initiations

With a few words of explanation and a dose of good humour, I’ll liven up your evening with ancient or traditional dances. For dancers of all ages and levels. With or without musicians.

Achievements: numerous birthdays, cultural celebrations, historical events, historical and folk balls since 2012. Among them:

  • Contes et légendes festival(Festi-contes) in Onnaing (FR), 2012;
  • Un village au coeur du Monde‘s Annual ball in Néthen, 2015;
  • La fête médiévale de Saint-Symphorien en 2016 et 2017;
  • The Saint-Symphorien Renaissance fair in 2016 and 2017;
  • The Charles V’s ball organised by La Gaillarde at Havré’s castle in 2016 and 2017;
  • The Warocqué festival at the Domaine de Mariemont in 2017;
  • The Roaring Twenties evening of the Parlement Jeunesse (Youth parliament) in 2018;
  • The ‘Moyen Âge et Merveilleux’ Renaissance faire in Mouscron in 2023;
  • Staff party for Office National de l’Enfance at Château Bayard, Eghezée, 2024;
  • Pop in Bruxelles, introduction to Regency dance – Bridgerton style, in Brussels, 2024;
  • Plaisirs d’été, an introduction to historical dances in Brussels, 2024.

Choreography and Staging

Entrust me with the reins of choreography, for a historically valid and visually appealing show/film/dance.

Achivements:

  • Since 2010, regular choreographer with the Aliquam Amentis company;
  • Choreography of Renaissance and 17th-century dances for the Marie de Bourgogne group at the Journées historiques de Vannes;
  • Choreography of dance from the First French Empire for over forty dancers for Inferno, Luc Petit’s show created to mark the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo (2015).
  • Choreography on a Minuet for La double inconstance by Compagnie Intérieur Jour, directed by Jean-François Demeyère, 2018.
  • Choreography on a Minuet and dace coaching for the movie Chiennes de Vies by Xavier Seron, production Helicotrons and Artisans du Film (released march 2024)
  • Choreography on dances from the 1900s fot the show Le secret des dragons by Luc Petit in Tournai (october 2024).

Help for creators and authors

You’re writing a quality historical novel. You don’t want to go wrong when it comes to describing the balls and dance lessons your characters attend. I can help! Find THE dance that brings your two heroes together? I’ll be happy to help you choose the figure that will bring out the mysterious character in the second chapter.

Achivements:

  • I guided Camille Adler and Flora Pialot through the ball scenes in their book Incroyable Charlotte.

Agenda