Registrations for Newport Vintage Dance Week 2008
are now being accepted
Please view the 2008 Newport registration form.
To register, send a completed registration form to Hannah at the address below with a $100 deposit per person.

Dear Dancers,
 
It is with great pleasure that the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers announce the 21st Newport Vintage Dance Week to be held August 11-17, 2008 (with optional early arrival Aug. 10).
 
As is our tradition, we have been busy lining up instructors and planning events, bringing back some favorites and introducing some for the first time at Newport. Our distinctive staff this year will include:
    Marc Casslar (Hartford, CT)
    Barbara and Antonia Pugliese (Boston, MA)
    Yvonne Vart (France)
    Joan Walton (San Francisco, CA)
 
Our special events will include an elegant lunch on a train leaving from campus and taking us to Newport, where we will board the Harbor Queen for a tour of Newport Harbor, before taking a train back to campus. We return to some of our favorite venues for the evening balls: Astors' Beechwood, Glen Manor, and the Rotunda Ballroom at Easton’s Beach. Live music for all three evenings will be provided by the New River Dance Orchestra.
 
Our other big news is that we have been informed by the Portsmouth Abbey School that 2008 is the last year the dance week will be held at Portsmouth Abbey. The school intends to restart its summer school and expand their sports offerings for middle and high school students in 2009. So, will this be the last Newport Dance Week? We hope not. We are looking for another site, but at this time we do not have anything lined up. So, if you want one more chance to stroll the peaceful Portsmouth Abbey campus and get your Newport fix, be sure to join us for this year’s dance week.
 
A registration note: Brochures will be mailed in the next few weeks. The '08 Registration Form is available now on our website: . Please be aware that registration will be conducted in the same manner as last year: we will accept 40 couples initially (persons of the opposite sex registering together). Additional couples and persons registering without a registration partner will be placed in lotteries to be held April 26th.
 
For those anxious to get started on their costume for Saturday night’s ball, this year’s Fancy Dress Ball theme is: Egyptomania!!!
 
So save the dates and look for additional information in your mailbox or on the CVD website soon. Hope to see you in Newport in August!

Warm regards,
 
Hannah Roberts Artuso
Co-Director CVD

Housing will be on the Portsmouth Abbey School campus, a private secondary school located near Newport, Rhode Island. All meals are included (Monday dinner through Sunday breakfast). Optional accomodations are available for Sunday, August 5.

For more information about the Newport Vintage Dance Week see links below, or please contact Hannah Roberts Artuso at:

FURTHER INFORMATION

Full on-line information for 2008 is not yet available
Information from 2007 is still available to give an impression of the types of events that might be available in 2008.

2007 information:
The week's schedule: 2007 Newport Information Booklet
Newport costuming suggestions: 2007 Newport costume brochure
 
General information:
General costuming suggestions: CVD costume resources
Directions and a map of the campus: maps and directions to Portsmouth, RI
The reply form: 2007 Reply Form
The latest Gazette: Newport Gazette, Volume XI

 
If you just can't wait until August, please view our list of Upcoming Events in New England.
 
Or, if you are just interested in these time periods, perhaps the Etiquette Hints for the mid- Ninteenth Century Ball Room, a compilation of suggestions from etiquette books c1860-1870.
 
If you would like more detailed costuming ideas take a look at the fashions of the 19th and early 20th Centuries on Katy Bishop's Vintage Victorian website.