Historical dance

Historical dance (or early dance) is a term covering a wide variety of Western European-based dance types from the past as they are danced in the present. Historical dances are danced as performance, for pleasure at themed balls or dance clubs, as historical reenactment, or for musicological or historical research purposes.

Dances from the early 20th century can be recreated precisely, being within living memory and after the advent of film and video recording. Earlier dance types, however, must be reconstructed from less reliable evidence such as surviving notations and instruction manuals.

For performance dancing, see the history of dance article.

Very little evidence survives about medieval dance except what can be gleaned from paintings and works of literature from this time period. Some names of the dances which we know existed during the Middle Ages include Carole, Ductia, Estampie (Istampitta), Saltarello, and the Trotto. The farandole is also frequently presented as a medieval dance, based on surviving iconography.

The earliest surviving dance manuals come from the Renaissance period , including examples by Italian dance master and composer Fabritio Caroso and French cleric Thoinot Arbeau. Thus we are able to reconstruct the dances with a greater degree of certainty. The large number of dances with Spanish origin reflect the cultural influence of the dominating power of the age.

Dance types:

It was during the baroque era that Londoner John Playford published The Dancing Master, which, along with similar publications, provides us with a large repertoire of baroque English country dances.

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