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George Washington was, it seems, an elegant and skilful dancer, famed for his participation in what he deemed \u2018an agreeable and innocent amusement\u2019. That is probably why, a week after his inauguration as the first president of the United States on 30 April 1789, Washington enthusiastically accepted an invitation to a function hosted by the Dancing Assembly of New York City. He danced \u2018two cotillions and a minuet<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 as guest of honour, an occasion later commemorated by an engraving in Harper\u2019s\u00a0Bazaar <\/em>magazine.<\/p> While not officially an \u2018inauguration ball\u2019, the Dancing Assembly\u2019s gathering was nonetheless an event of historic significance. It initiated the now firmly established tradition of organising parties and celebrations to mark the installation of a new president, and of putting music at the heart of them. Since Washington\u2019s unofficial dance soir\u00e9e, the scale of inauguration festivities has, in fact, burgeoned remarkably: Bill Clinton attended a record-breaking 15 inaugural balls in 1997, with George HW Bush running a handy second, with 11 in 1989.<\/p> The first piece of music unequivocally associated with presidential ceremonials was written by the composer and violinist Philip Phile, for George Washington in 1789. Entitled The President\u2019s March<\/em>, the tune combined a distinctly Handelian<\/a><\/strong> demeanour (Phile was a German immigrant) with the measured dignity appropriate to a newly emerging nation. A decade later, with words added, it became the rousingly patriotic Hail, Columbia<\/em>, sung as a kind of national anthem for a century thereafter.<\/p> Measured dignity<\/h2>