Ball (dance)

A ball is a formal dance occasion. By formal is meant: people were invited, wore their best clothes ('evening attire'), and the ball was held in a splendid ballroom. In former times everyone danced, but only the wealthy went to balls. Girls had dance cards: men had to sign up to dance with them. Older people sat around the sides and watched the younger people dance. It was a society occasion.

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  A ball at Apsley House. Shows King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra dancing a quadrille, 1908.
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  Ball at Eglington Castle 1839
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  Almack's Assembly Rooms, London, about 1820.
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  Mardi Gras Ball, 1930s
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  Wedding ball of the Duc de Joyeause, 1581. Attributed to Herman van der Mast.
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  Sheet music cover
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  Bal de Tarda by Ramon Casas i Carbó, 1896
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  by William Hogarth, 1745
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  Palacio San Martín, Buenos Aires
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  Ballroom of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto
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  Ballroom of the Canals family mansion, Tarragona
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  The ballroom of the Catherine Palace, near St Petersburg

• Ballroom dancing