We know it's hard to wait, and we'll be working on editing ahead so that we could eventually post more often in the future. It's quite a long story, so it takes time, but we would also love to start writing another one, and the sooner we're done with this one, the sooner it will be possible. So we have our own incentive too .

Oh, the waltz. It is tempting, I admit. But as we write the story we're trying to be very faithful to the realities of the epoch. The problem with the waltz is that they weren't actually dancing it yet then. If I remember well, it was first danced in England a few months later. But that itself wouldn't be even a problem. I assume that Darcy was a well travelled man, as every wealthy gentleman then should in his attempt to develop his education, so he could have danced it elsewhere and now teach Lizzy. The problem however is, that the waltz they knew then was nothing like the Slow Waltz we know today (that one originated about 1910).

The Viennese Waltz was a fast dance. More similar to Polka or Mazurka. One waltzes in the Polka, which means the rotating movements. Generally all the ballroom dances that were danced in England then were fast, (contrary to the earlier danced Baroque ones; the ladies' dresses became lighter and more comfortable, so the fast dances ruled the ballrooms) and only Polonaise was danced as a slower one, but that was performed in England during the mask balls, and not the normal ones.

The scandal with Waltz then was about the fast rotating movements, as the ladies’ ankles showed. The fact that a gentleman was putting his hands on a lady was also objectionable, but a gentleman wasn’t holding her as close as in the modern waltz.

Here's a French caricature of the dance from the beginning of the 19th century:

(The right couple isn't in a normal position, the lady mistook her step.)

Since the Regency dances were fast, talking during dancing wasn't possible, but there were often too many couples and too little room, so some dancing couples had to stand aside and wait for the others to finish their movements. When Lizzy and Darcy are talking during the Netherfield ball, they are then waiting for their turn. That's why it was possible for Lucas to interrupt them and chat a bit. In the film adaptations they of course want to show us the romantic vision, so for the main characters they choose dances that weren't danced then. Or rather they create choreography based on such dances. I.e. in the 1995 P&P they use Minuet, in the Emma with Palthrow - Polonaise.

Oh well, still the idea of Darcy putting his hands on Elizabeth is quite tempting, and since he could have known how to dance it, well... who knows? But I have to warn you that Laura and I are very wicked, and we often turn the most romantic desires of our characters into something much much different...

Thank you ladies for your encouragement, we really need it!

Sylwia