Allison Thompson Writer

Writing on English folk dance, Elsie J. Oxenham, Jane Austen, May Day and maypole dancing, Elsie J. Oxenham and more!

Good morning lords and ladies, it is the first of May!

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Sunrise in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania USA on May 1, 2021 at 6:17:30 am EDT.

Last year, in our first lockdown, my favorite holiday came and went and I didn’t even notice. But this year there is hope of a return to gatherings and celebrations and, while I will still be participating in a May Day celebration remotely, I am eager to share some May Day thoughts.

(Left: aesthetic dancer in 1910 at Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University) Aesthetic dance is basically modern or interpretive dance.)

I wrote a book about May Day! And it’s a jolly good one, too. I’m going to highlight just a few photos and comments from it. [Read more…]

A02_The Abbey Girls

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abbey girls

After A01_Girls of the Hamlet Club, Elsie Oxenham published eight books, many dealing with the Camp Fire movement, before returning to Miss Macey’s school and establishing the true beginning of the story of the girls who live in the Abbey of Gracedieu.  A02_The Abbey Girls was published in 1920 but is set two years after Cicely’s story, running from February through May 1916 in “Abbey Time.” There is no mention of the War.  
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A01_Girls of the Hamlet Club+

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girlsElsie J. Oxenham’s ninth book, published in October of 1914, is the “origins” story of the Abbey Girls series, and is one of the books that contains the most folk dancing, culminating in a lengthy description of a performance of folk dance and song to honor the first-crowned May Queen of the series. If you are a folk dancer [Read more…]