Before the publication of Cozy Classics: Pride and Prejudice, some suggested that our image for “dance” wasn’t historically accurate. However, Lisa Brown of JASNA Rochester, an expert on English country dance, confirms that Jane and Bingley are doing a figure called “arming.” While dancers didn’t typically raise their arms, nothing would have prevented them, she says, from raising their arms in a moment of exuberance. She also says that Andrei and Natasha are doing a figure called a “gypsy” in War and Peace! Thanks for the insight, Lisa!
