How to recreate a Regency ball: insider secrets from Bridgerton’s choreographer
Jack Murphy, the man behind the luxurious dance scenes in the Netflix series Bridgerton, reveals how he uses his skills to design Regency balls for modern audiences…
Scenes of Regency balls in film and television have the power to capture our imaginations and evoke the era like nothing else. Characterised by opulent costumes, lavish surroundings, heady dance numbers and couples’ snatched conversations in between movements, they have all graced the screen to fabulous effect – from the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to the hit Shondaland series Bridgerton.
And in both of those examples, one name crops up: Jack Murphy. While Pride and Prejudice was his first job in television as an assistant choreographer, he has been the lead choreographer for Bridgerton since the beginning of the series.
Speaking to Emily Briffett on an episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Jack Murphy reveals the behind-the-scenes details of creating a grand ball scene that delights modern viewers…
What’s it like working on a project like Bridgerton?
Working on Bridgerton is a smorgasbord of experiences, to say the very least. It is an extraordinary honour. I'm not a young man anymore; to work on a project that I didn't know was going to be so fabulously accepted by fans – that in itself is fantastic. I've worked on a lot of shows at the National Theatre and I've worked on big Hollywood movies, but the notoriety of this show is second to none in terms of my experience, and I love it.
One of the things I was asked to do in the interview [for Bridgerton] was demonstrate how I would make the dancing appealing to a modern audience, not just a group of people who were particularly, and understandably, interested in Regency dance.
It has been a wonderfully creative process over the three seasons, and indeed the spinoff [Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story].
I'm allowed by the producers and the writers to be progressive and non-historical, but, at the same time, retain the integrity of why people were dancing in the Regency period.
I was able to fuse the two worlds, keeping my understanding of 19th-century dance, which is very much connected to the etiquette, and using my movement skills and teaching skills.
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I’ve danced with Coranto, which is a historic dance company run by Diana Scrivener, and I also use my ballroom and Latin, and my socialising with the LGBTQ+ community. So, it was full circle, and it’s very exciting.
Originally, I was using Regency music. And then production would say, ‘How would you modernise that piece of music?’ During the first season, we actually danced to modern tracks that were just on my playlist, and then in the edit, the producers started using the likes of Vitamin String Quartet and Ariana Grande’s thank u, next. So that then became the brand for the second season.
I love the dancers that I work with. Their discipline, creativity, and ability they have to adapt – and just their focus – is immense. They are much adored by every single aspect of production and cast. Of course, we love to see our heroes dancing, but those dancers work tirelessly. I've never worked so intensely with dancers as I have on Bridgerton.
In season three, I worked with Nicole Alphonse, who was one of my dancers in season two. To work with young dancers with fresh ideas – you get this injection of oxygen and energy. It's very humbling.
How accurate are the dances in Bridgerton?
The dances that were popular in the Regency primarily were Longways progressives. If you had a partner, you could get up and you could join the line. There are two types of Longways progressive dance: duple minor and triple minor. I have used primarily duple minor because it's very simple; I don't get the time to teach the actors what would be a triple minor, which is a dance for three couples, as the complexity of these patterns is off the scale.
I've been dancing Playford dances [a style of social dance named after musicians John and Henry Playford] and teaching them since 1996, when I started teaching historical dance at LAMDA [London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art]. So if I want to use a jig or a reel, they’re accurate. They’re used to create jollity, depending on what's written in the script. I choreograph a dance to express the consequences of the situation happening on the page, to bring it to life.
I’ve developed both the quadrille and the Longways progressive. What I mean by that is I'm not frightened of putting in pirouettes, or using the ‘A section’ of a dance, say A Trip to Highgate [an English country dance published in 1777], and then creating my own ‘B’ so that the characters can feature more than what's in the original dance.
Do you know of any dances from the era that were a little saucy or scandalous?
The slow dances. If you dance The Hole in the Wall [a Longways dance published in 1698] there are figures where the first man dances with the second lady and they cross. And there is a move where they get close – very close indeed. That creates intimacy: it has a wonderful, sensual, sensorial quality about it, rather than sexual.
I mean, these people had heartbeats, they had breath.
What is your favourite Regency dance on the screen?
Bridgerton is my favourite example of Regency fusion. But I have to say anything Jane Gibson has choreographed. For her to be able to do Pride and Prejudice for the BBC, and then Pride and Prejudice for Joe Wright [2005] just shows the wickedness of the woman. She's so unbelievably clever.
What Regency dance should we revive today?
I think it should be a quadrille. I think you would see the sophistication, the intricacy and the technique required in order to dance those dances and then actually be able to draw a huge, respectful parallel to the modern.
You can listen to more of Jack Murphy’s thoughts on choreographing for period drama and Bridgerton in this HistoryExtra podcast episode.