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Introduction

O dolorosa saltatio, omnium malorum mater,
Omnis luxuriae soror, omnis superbiae pater.

O deceytfull Daunce, it is the mother of all euill,
The sister of all carnall pleasures, the father of all pryde.

-- John Northbrooke, c. 1577

Opponents of dancing throughout history have claimed that dancing is a lustful and lascivious activity that arouses the passions and leads to sexual transgressions. Religious reformers in early modern England were no exception, and in an assortment of antidance treatises, added their lengthy and virulent tirades against dancing and revelry to the long litany. Widely known in theatre history circles for their impact on English Renaissance plays and staging, antidance treatises have more recently come to the attention of a small, but growing, number of historical dance scholars. [1] Alan Brissenden’s Shakespeare and the Dance (1981, 2001) and Skiles Howard’s The Politics of Courtly Dancing in Early Modern England (1998) include some discussion of Puritans and other religious reformers’ views on dance. The most thorough examination, however, is provided in Mary Pennino-Baskerville’s article “Terpsichore Reviled: Antidance Tracts in Elizabethan England” (1991), which examines in detail the criticisms of dancing put forth by Protestant moralists in mid to late sixteenth-century England.

Another recent development in dance history is the utilisation of the Records of Early English Drama (REED). [2] The REED collections include extensive compilations of archival records pertaining to drama, music, and dance, which are organised into volumes by county or city. The numerous dance references drawn from treasurers’ accounts, ecclesiastical and civic courts, and private writings provide substantial evidence of dancing practices in early modern England. By comparing descriptions of dancing in the REED archival materials with those found in antidance treatises, the dance historian can assess the validity of moralists’ criticisms of early modern dancing practices.

 “Terpsichore Reviled: Antidance Tracts in Elizabethan England” provides an excellent starting point for assessing antidance writings. In this article Mary Pennino-Baskerville considers four tracts concerned solely with dancing, [3] as well as five works that touch on dancing as part of the “larger spectrum of evils contributing to the spiritual and moral degeneracy of their times.” [4] However, in the article she bases her conclusions solely on literary evidence, namely the antidance texts themselves supplemented by a few sermons and other moral treatises. This paper will expand on Pennino-Baskerville’s analysis of antidance tracts by investigating whether or not there is archival evidence in the REED collections to substantiate moralists’ claims against dancing.[5] The paper will also consider how certain dance practices described in the REED volumes, but not mentioned in the antidance treatises, complicate Pennino-Baskerville’s assertion that the treatises make us “better acquainted with the kind of dancing popular in the England of Elizabeth.” [6]

Footnotes