Washington residents Shirley and Larry Hackmann will be whirling around in a hoop skirt and frock coat in the rotunda of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield Saturday.
The couple is part of the Central Illinois Civil War Dance Society Performers group, which will return to Springfield for the third time to perform at the museum.
The performers group grew out of a similar social group started by Jean Myers, of Germantown Hills, three years ago. The group studies and practices dances from the 1850s and ’60s.
When schools, churches, nursing homes and museums started asking the group to perform, Myers started the performers group, which, unlike the social group, requires members to audition and be invited to join.
“The dances the performers group learns are a lot more difficult than the ones performed at the social group’s meetings. You have to have the endurance and memory to do it. You can’t have two left feet either,” he said.
The group of 15 dancers usually performs about 10 to 12 of the more than 20 dances in their repertoire, which includes mainly dances from the Civil War era and several that were danced at Abraham Lincoln’s presidential inauguration.
Group members learn not only the dance steps, but also the history and social implications of each dance.
The oldest dance the group performs dates from 1805 and is called Black Moccasin.
“Black Moccasin is an interesting dance because it was originally considered a bawdy dance and wouldn’t be danced in polite society. But in the 1820s and ’30s, it was more refined and became a waltz. It’s a beautiful dance and not bawdy at all,” Myers said.
The group also traces the history of each dance they perform. For example, the Crystal Schottische is a German version of a Scottish dance that became popular in the nineteenth century.
Aside from the social aspect, Myers said he and friends started the group and host a yearly ball in Metamora in order to carry on an important tradition.
“Metamora was a part of the eighth judicial circuit. The townspeople of all the towns and villages on the circuit were grateful they were coming to their town because it brought a lot of business with it,” Myers said. “So, to honor the judges and lawyers, they often had a ball a night or two before the court would open.”
As for retired couple Larry and Shirley Hackmann, who like ballroom dancing and square dancing, they were first drawn to the group by the dancing, not the history.
