LONDON (AP) 鈥 Ellie Potts goes dancing with her friends most weeks. They don鈥檛 put on the latest Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran, though 鈥 they much prefer English country dances that were popular more than 200 years ago.
As the music starts, about two dozen men and women curtsy and bow, extend a gloved hand to their partner, before dancing in circles or skipping in elaborate patterns around each other.
Like many of her fellow Hampshire Regency Dancers, Potts is a devotee of and all things from the Regency period. Not only have they studied the books and watched all the screen adaptations 鈥 they also research the music, make their own period dresses, and immerse themselves in dances Austen and her characters would have enjoyed in centuries past.
鈥淚鈥檝e been interested in Jane Austen since I was about 8 or 9,鈥 said Potts, 25. 鈥淚 mainly joined (the dance group) so I can have balls and things to go to in my costumes, but I really got into it. I鈥檝e been surprised how much I enjoy the dancing.鈥
There鈥檚 no shortage of grand costumed balls and historical dancing this year, which marks the 250th anniversary of Austen鈥檚 birth. This weekend, thousands of fans who call themselves 鈥淛aneites鈥 are descending on the city of Bath for a 10-day festival celebrating the beloved author of 鈥淧ride and Prejudice鈥 and 鈥淪ense and Sensibility.鈥
The highlight is a Regency costumed promenade on Saturday, where some 2,000 people in their finest bonnets, bows and costumes will parade through the streets of Bath. Organizers say the extravaganza holds the for the 鈥渓argest gathering of people dressed in Regency costumes.鈥
Fans descend from all over the world
Bonny Wise, from Indiana, is attending her sixth Jane Austen festival in Bath. This time she鈥檚 bringing four period dresses she made, and will lead a tour group of 25 Austen enthusiasts from all over the United States.
鈥淚 started planning a tour four years ago, when I realized this was a big year for Jane,鈥 said Wise, 69. She credited the 1995 adaptation of 鈥淪ense and Sensibility鈥 with sparking her obsession.
鈥淭hat movie just opened up a whole new world for me,鈥 she said. 鈥淵ou start with the books, the movies, then you start getting into the hats, the tea, the manners 鈥 one thing just led to another.鈥
Wise said she loves the wit, humor and social observations in Austen鈥檚 books. She also finds the author鈥檚 own life story inspiring.
鈥淚 admire Jane and what she managed as a woman in that era, her perseverance and her process of becoming an author,鈥 she said.
The Jane Austen Society of North America, the world鈥檚 largest organization devoted to the author, says it has seen a recent influx of younger fans, though most of its members 鈥 5,000 to date 鈥 skew older.
鈥淲e鈥檙e growing all the time because Jane Austen is timeless,鈥 said Mary Mintz, the group鈥檚 president. 鈥淲e have members from Japan, India. They come from every continent except Antarctica.鈥
The Bridgerton effect
Many festival-goers will be making a pilgrimage to Steventon, the small village in rural Hampshire, southern England, where Austen was born in 1775.
The author lived in Bath, a fashionable spa town in the 18th and 19th centuries, for five years. Two of her novels, 鈥淧ersuasion鈥 and 鈥淣orthanger Abbey,鈥 feature scenes set in the World Heritage city.
Bath is also the filming location for parts of Netflix鈥檚 wildly popular modern take on period drama based loosely on the Regency period, the decade when the future King George IV stood in as prince regent because his father was deemed unfit to rule due to mental illness.
Thanks to the show, Austen and Regency style 鈥 think romantic flowing gowns, elegant ballrooms and high society soirees 鈥 have become trendy for a new generation.
鈥淚 think Jane Austen is on the rise,鈥 Potts said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 definitely become more popular since 鈥楤ridgerton鈥.鈥
Stepping back in time together
In a church hall in Winchester, a few streets away from where Austen was buried, the Hampshire Regency Dancers gather weekly to practice for the many performances they鈥檙e staging this year in honor of the author.
The group selects dances that appear in screen adaptations of Austen鈥檚 novels, and members go to painstaking detail to ensure their costumes, down to the buttons and stitching, are authentic looking.
鈥淲e go to a lot of trouble to get things as close to the original as possible,鈥 said Chris Oswald, a retired lawyer who now chairs the group. 鈥淔or me it鈥檚 about getting a better understanding of what life was like then, and in the process of doing that getting a better understanding of Jane Austen herself.鈥
Oswald is passionate about his group鈥檚 showcases in Hampshire, or what he jokingly calls 鈥淛ane Austen land.鈥
鈥淧eople get quite touched because they are walking where Jane Austen actually walked. They dance in a room that Jane Austen danced in,鈥 he said. 鈥淔or people who are very into Jane Austen, that鈥檚 extremely special.鈥
Many 鈥淛aneites鈥 say they get huge enjoyment in making Austen’s words and imageries come to life in a community of like-minded people.
Lisa Timbs, a pianist who researches the music in Austen鈥檚 life and performs it on an antique pianoforte, puts it succinctly: She and her Regency friends are “stepping back in time together.鈥
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 an escape for a lot of people,鈥 Timbs added. 鈥淧erhaps it’s to escape the speed, noise and abrasiveness of the era in which we find ourselves, and a longing to return to the elegance and indulgent pleasures of what was really a very fleeting period in history.鈥
