A ball is a formal dance event often characterised by a banquet followed by a social dance . Ball dancing emerged from formal dances during the Middle Ages and carried on through different iterations throughout succeeding centuries, such as the 17th century Baroque dance and the 18th century cotillion . Several variations exists such as the masquerade and debutante ball as well as the more modern prom .
14-524: The Royal Caledonian Ball is a ball held annually in London for the benefit of Scottish charities. With few exceptions, the Royal Caledonian Ball has been held annually since 1849, and is the oldest charity ball in the world. The ball dates to the 1840s, when George, Duke of Atholl and his wife, Anne , wanted to entertain their Scottish friends residing in London. By 1849, it had become
28-509: A formal dancing party in French in the 12th century. The ballo was an Italian Renaissance word for a type of elaborate court dance, and developed into one for the event at which it was performed. The word also covered performed pieces like Il ballo delle ingrate by Claudio Monteverdi (1608). French developed the verb baller , and the noun bal for the event—from where it swapped into languages like English or German—and bailar ,
42-509: A fundraiser for Scottish charities helping vulnerable schoolchildren, the homeless, and cancer patients. The Royal Caledonian Ball has been held every year since, except during the Boer War , World War I and World War II ; following the death of King Edward VII on 6 May 1910, and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The ball has been under the royal patronage since Edward VII. Since
56-673: A tartan sash. Indeed, it was the only socially acceptable opportunity to wear full tartan outside Scotland. The event is known for its Scottish country dancing , and it is traditional for guests at the ball to dance every reel : Traditionally, the Duke and Duchess of Atholl are the first couple to start the dance, followed by his private army, the Atholl Highlanders . The ball supports numerous charities in Scotland and has raised an estimated £3 million since its inception. Among
70-662: The Duchess of Bedford . The Duchess of Richmond's ball in Brussels in 1815, dramatically interrupted by news of Napoleon's advance, and most males having to leave to rejoin their units for the Battle of Waterloo the next day, has been described as "the most famous ball in history". Balls also took place in Colonial America especially after the early 18th-century. The wealthy who participated in these dances followed
84-667: The 1930s, the event has been held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, London . The Queen was often in attendance. In recent years, the ball has been featured in the Bystander section of Tatler . The Royal Caledonian Ball dress code stipulates that male attendees wear Highland evening dress , evening tails with white tie , or mess dress . Women should wear floor-length evening dress or mess dress; tartan sashes are encouraged. Originally, men wore full evening tartan while women were dressed in white, with
98-517: The 19th century, the dance card became common; here ladies recorded the names of the men who had booked a particular dance with them. The grandest balls were at the French court in the Chateau de Versailles , with others in Paris. At royal balls, most guests did not expect to be able to dance, at least until very late in the night. Indeed, throughout the period dancers seem to have been a minority of
112-406: The French court were part social dance and part performance. It declined in the later 17th century, whereupon the formal ball took over as a grand and large evening social event. Although most were strictly by invitation only, with printed invitations coming in the mid-18th century, some balls were public, either with tickets sold or in cases such as the celebration of royal events, open to anyone who
126-516: The Spanish and Portuguese verbs for 'to dance' (although all three Romance languages also know danser , danzar , and dançar respectively). Catalan uses the same word, ball , for the dance event. Ballet developed from the same root. Elite formal dances in the Middle Ages often included elements of performance, which gradually increased until the 17th century, often reducing
140-471: The amount of dancing by the whole company. Medieval dance featured many group dances, and this type of dance lasted throughout the period when Baroque dance became common and occurred on until at least the 19th century, when dances for couples finally took over the formal dance. Many dances originated in popular forms but were given elegant formalizations for the elite ball. Dancing lessons were considered essential for both sexes. The ballets de cour at
154-568: The charities the ball supports are Queen Victoria School in Dunblane , Erskine Hospital , and St Catherine’s Homeless Project in Edinburgh . 51°30′35.0″N 0°09′17.3″W / 51.509722°N 0.154806°W / 51.509722; -0.154806 Ball (dance party) The word ball derives from the Latin word ballare , meaning 'to dance', and bal was used to describe
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#1732783377107168-563: The guests, and mostly drawn from the young and unmarried. Many guests were happy to talk, eat, drink, and watch. A bal blanc ("white ball", as opposed to a bal en blanc , merely with an all-white theme) was or is only for unmarried girls and their chaperones, with the women all in white dresses. The modern debutante ball may or may not continue these traditions, but are typically worn with pure white Ball gown and opera-length white gloves . A well-documented ball occurred at Kingston Lacy , Dorset , England, on 19 December 1791. The occasion
182-506: Was appropriately dressed. It was at The Yew Tree Ball at Versailles in 1745 (a public ball celebrating the royal wedding of Madame de Pompadour 's son), that Pompadour was able to meet the disguised King Louis XV , dressed as a hedge. The distinction between a less formal "dance" and a formal "ball" was established very early, with improvised dancing happening after dinner, as it occurred in Jane Austen 's Persuasion (1818). In
196-429: Was to celebrate the completion of major alterations to the house and the event was organized by Frances Bankes, wife of Henry Bankes , owner of the house. The event involved 140 guests, with dancing from 9pm to 7am, interrupted by supper at 1am. They would all have had dinner at home many hours earlier, before coming out. Other, grander, balls served supper even later, up to 3.30 a.m., at an 1811 London ball given by
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