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.
Famous quotes containing the words historical and/or dance:
“Yet the companions of the Muses
will keep their collective nose in my books
And weary with historical data, they will turn to my dance tune.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat feet dance an antic hay.”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)