Guests at the inaugural Midsummer Night’s Ball at Compass Inn Museum learned colonial dance steps, along with associated etiquette.

The event was held Saturday evening on the grounds of the historical complex in Laughlintown.

“If a lady refuses to dance with one gentleman, she has essentially refused to dance with all the gentlemen that evening,” said English country dance master Brett Walker of Ligonier, a former member of the Colonial Williamsburg Dance Ensemble.

If she declines one partner and then accepts another, the lady has signaled that she doesn’t particularly like the first gentleman.

“That could become the talk of the town, and you can’t have that,” Walker said. “So she has to be very discriminating in who she refuses.”

There was no cause for gossip as Walker’s students gamely joined hands to learn the intricate 19th-century dance floor moves, with music provided by Pittsburgh-based Wayward Companions, an ensemble of classically trained musicians who perform selections in a style familiar to early American parlors and taverns.

Dancers were bolstered prior to the lesson with a bountifully supplied grazing table, courtesy of Simply Good, a Ligonier catering service.

Ham and buns for sliders were prepared in the Inn’s cookhouse, with the ham baked according to a period recipe, said Theresa Gay Rohall, executive director of Ligonier Valley Historical Society, which operates the museum.

Parched throats were soothed with strawberry or lemon-flavored shrub, a popular period beverage made with a syrup of water, fruit, sugar and vinegar added to either spirits or soft drinks.

So pleased were organizers with the turnout for the event, Rohall said, that they hope to repeat it next summer.

Lending an air of authenticity to the event were re-enactors from Baltimore-based Ship’s Company Living History Inc., including Cole Grinnell, Will Knight and Michael Bosworth, who were on hand for a weekend-long living history program.

In attendance at the Inn: Erica Nuckles, Steve and Sally Nuckles, Ron Rohall, Emily Barth, Lothar and Mary Alice Schaltinat, Don and Jacqui Baughman, Tom and Beverly Ravida, Chris Mitchell, Anjulie Mitchell and Lisa Sullenberger.

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