Fencing and Dancing Instruction

Fencing and Dancing Instructionⁱ

i Fencing and Dancing

William O’Keefe, an Irish fencing master who arrived in Charleston in 1746. In colonial South Carolina, every gentleman learned the manly art of sword play, and William O’Keefe was one of many such masters who sought pupils here. Since fencing involved a lot of fancy footwork, it was common for fencing masters to also teach dancing, and also common for them to demonstrate their choreographic skills on stage at the theater, or in showy demonstrations with an audience. And so, when O’Keefe arrived in here, he published the following bold advertisement in the South Carolina Gazette of 15 December 1746: “I William O’Keeffe, Master of the noble Science of Defence, do challenge, for the Honour of South-Carolina, any Man that comes over the Bar, or in the said Province, with the usual Weapons fought on the Stage. William O’Keeffe. N.B. The said O’Keefe makes use of his left hand, and is to be found at French Santee. A CLEAR STAGE, AND NO FAVOUR.”