The Bow and the Curtsey, a guide to Ballroom etiquette !

Besides dancing, bowing is probably what gentlemen should do the most at a ball. They shall bow when meeting a lady, they shall bow when asking a lady for a dance, they shall bow to greet the lady after the dance etc. Very much like the curtsey for the lady, the bow of the gentleman is a major element of ballroom etiquette; although there is one simple way of making it look good, there are plenty of fashions of performing an awkward bow.

HERE IS THE TECHNIQUE :

In the simple mechanic movements of address, the foot takes the second position, the other the third, then the body gently falls forward, keeping the head in a direct line with the body. The bend is made by a motion at the union of the inferior limbs with the body, and a little flexing at the limbs. Time, place, and other circumstances,must determine the quantity of bends as well as its quickness. The gentleman, on his first entering company, must make and easy salutation and bow. When in a ballroom, he opens the chorus, politeness requires him in the same manner to salute his partner with that soft respect, which the fair sex require, not not to omit the same at conclusion. By performing a bow is meant to be expressed the respect due to the person addressed; that is why the bow should not go too low and the head should not drop down as the gentleman does not want to reverence the earth, but the object of his esteem.

To summarize :
KEEP YOUR ARMS RELAXED, FALL GENTLY FORWARD KEEPING YOUR BACK STRAIGHT AND YOUR HEAD ALINED, DO NOT GO TOO LOW AND MAINTAIN EYE CONTACT AS LONG AS POSSIBLE !

The curtsey is the way a lady should respond to a gentleman's bow, for instance before starting a dance. Nowadays, curtsey is still performed when meeting Royals, in Viennese balls by the debutantes and in some dance society balls. The curtsey performed in front of the Queen or by Viennese balls debutantes goes extremely low. The ballroom curtsey should not be so deep and should focus on elegance and grace.

HERE IS THE TECHNIQUE:

To learn more about how to curtsey, let us go back into some 1830 instructions found in "The Young Lady's Book"

The following is the usual mode: the front foot is first brought into the second position; the other is then drawn into the third position, and passed immediately into the fourth behind, the whole weight of the body thrown on the front foot; the front knee is then bent, the body gently sinks, the whole weight is transferred to the foot behind while rising, and the front foot is gradually brought into the fourth position. The arms should be gracefully bent, and the hands occupied in lightly holding out the dress.