Shields' two left feet are so nimble now that he is one of the group's demonstration dancers who perform at festivals like the Dickinson Plantation Days in Dover or the Chestertown, Md., Tea Party. Shields dances in knee-length breeches, a frock coat and a linen shirt that make him look as though he's stepped out of the film Tom Jones. The costume was made at Grand Illusions, the Newark, Del., costume shop that specializes in period dress. Country dances popular in Georgian England and colonial America were simplier alternatives to court dances, Shields explains. Formal court dance required learning and practice.
Country dances have simple steps, and dancers move in geometric patterns.
Hence, the terms circle dance or square dance. Country dances tell you something about 18th-century country culture. Modern dances are for couples. Country dances force you to mix up. To Edith Mroz, Delaware '72M, '88Ph.