Peabody (dance)

Peabody was a foxtrot type ballroom dance in the United States of the beginning of the 20th century. It was essentially a fast one-step danced under lively ragtime music.

It was named after a police lieutenant, a William Frank Peabody, an active dancer. [Richard M. Stephenson, "Complete Book of Ballroom Dancing" (1992) ISBN 0385424167, Chapter "History of Ballroom Dancing", section"Peabody"] The dance was characteristic of its prevalent use of the Right Outside Partner position. This peculiarity is explained by the fact that Lt. Peabody was a man of considerable girth, so that for the freedom of movement he had to keep the lady to the side, rather than in front.

The dance used to be included into the American Smooth competitive dance category.

A sample music suitable for the dance is "I Could Have Danced All Night". [ [http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=4&ti=1,4&SEQ=20070724151257&SAB1=peabody%20dance&BOOL1=all%20of%20these&FLD1=Keyword%20Anywhere%20%28GKEY%29%20%28GKEY%29&GRP1=AND%20with%20next%20set&SAB2=&BOOL2=all%20of%20these&FLD2=Keyword%20Anywhere%20%28GKEY%29%20%28GKEY%29&CNT=100&PID=29879&SID=1 "Simply ballroom. Volume 2"] , a 1994 compilation of dance music]

A feature of the 1977 film "Roseland" called "The Peabody" is based on this dance.

References

* [http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3pbody.htm "Peabody"] at Dance History Acrhives
* [http://www.dancetimepublications.com/store/archival_research.shtml Research Video Volume I: 1900-1930's (b/w)] , by "Dancetime Publications", contains a film clip of The DeMarcos [http://www.streetswing.com/histmai2/d2demrc1.htm] doing a Peabody dance; from "Universal Newsreels; Library of Congress,