Come Fill Your Dance Card: A Celebration of Jewish Dance Cards in the Library Special Collections
In this special event, we will learn about the Gaster papers and how to dance like British Jews around 1900. (Edwardian) costumes optional!
Come Fill Your Dance Card: A Celebration of Jewish Dance Cards in the Library Special Collections
05 Feb 2026, 18:00 – 20:00
Tickets are limited!
Please book early to avoid disappointment
UCL Special Collections and Department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies in collaboration with the Institute of Jewish Studies
Ballroom dancing was a favourite form of entertainment in the long nineteenth century–and a crucial way for upper class British Jews to show they belonged in high society.
By looking at dance cards, such as those found in the Rabbi Moses Gaster papers, we can find out which dances were popular at Jewish balls. In this special event, we will learn about the Gaster papers and about how to party like British Jews around 1900.
Internationally-acclaimed historical dance teacher Susan de Guardiola (USA) will teach us social dances from a 1909 dance card in the Gaster papers. Dr Sonia Gollance (UCL HJS), a leading expert on Jewish social dance, will share insights from her research about London Jewish balls and Hebrew & Jewish Studies Subject Liaison Librarian Vanessa Freedman will introduce us to the Gaster papers.
This event coincides with the bicentennial of UCL, the first English university to admit Jewish students.
(Edwardian) costumes optional!
Special Collection
Correspondence and papers of Dr Moses Gaster and his family dating largely from the 1870s to the 1930s, also including some material on Gaster's life and work which post-dates his death.
Many papers relate to Gaster's activities in his official posts, notably as Haham, to his interests in Jewish affairs and Zionism, and as a scholar, but the collection touches upon a wide range of topics in late 19th and early 20th century history, including the history of Romanian Jewry and Anglo-Jewry.
Related events
Book Launch: Architecture of Memory by Natalia Romik
The Nomadic Shtetl Archive: Mobile Interventions in Post-Jewish Architecture
Bialik, King of the Jews: Celebration of Hebrew International Language Day
A screening of Yair Qedar's film 'Bialik, King of the Jews', Q&A with the director, and reading of Bialik's poetry in Hebrew and Yiddish
Jews, Judaism and Mental Health Series: Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox Jews) and Psychotherapy
Once wary of psychotherapy, some of London's Haredi community now embrace it with some even training as therapists. This seminar explores that shift.