#is there some archaic sense of 'sevrer' that means 'nursing' (i assume?). because that's not what the french dictionary said.

[clove-pinks]

La Cachucha

1837 caricature print by Jules Joseph Guillaume Bourdet (Paris Musées).

The caption reads:

Madame, savez-vous si Mademoiselle Lili dansera ce soir la Cachucha? — Non Monsieur elle a la coqueluche et sa mère est en train de la sevrer.

(Madame, do you know if Mademoiselle Lili will dance the Cachucha this evening? No Sir, she has whooping cough and her mother is weaning[?] her)

Ignoring the odd choice of words, La Cachucha is a dance of Spanish origin that was a big deal in the 1830s, and I found a delightful video:

Although the quality is not the best of the several cachucha videos on YouTube, the dancer's movements look like they're right out of 1830s social dancing illustrations!

Her costume is modeled on that of Fanny Elssler in the 1836 ballet Le Diable boiteux, which made the cachucha wildly popular: