Regency dancing has been traditional at worldcons and many other science fiction conventions for over two decades. It began, as so many other odd con traditions did, with a side interest of a group of fans. The historical novels of Georgette Heyer, while not SFnal, shared with SF the depiction of what is to modern eyes a delightfully alien society, that of upper-crust England in the first decades of the nineteenth century. Los Angeles fan John Hertz drew on the modern country dance and folk tradition to create a collection of dances which became a tradition at worldcons and other conventions and eventually spun off the Los Angeles group Friends of the English Regency. A fuller history of this tradition may be found here.

More recently, as other forms of dance have become popular, conventions have branched out - sometimes into swing, sometimes into periods ranging from the 16th century to the 1910's. Members of EAS specialize in historically accurate Regency dancing and are spreading the historical style (simplified for ease of teaching) at east coast conventions such as Balticon, and Darkovercon. Arisia, a Boston-area science fiction convention held each January, has taken a different approach and holds a ball set in a different period every year. Many members of EAS also share an interest in SF fandom and can be found dancing at or running these balls.

Please see here for information on holding an EAS-sponsored dance at your science fiction convention.