[picture of pipe and tabor
player] [picture of a
capriole]

And there is more to it than this, for dancing is practised to reveal whether lovers are in good health and sound of limb, after which they are permitted to kiss their mistresses in order that they may touch and savour one another, thus to ascertain if they are shapely or emit an unpleasant odour as of bad meat. Therefore, from this standpoint, quite apart from the many other advantages to be derived from dancing, it becomes an essential in a well ordered society.

Thoinot Arbeau, Orchesography (1589), trans. Mary Stewart Evans, p. 12
(Images from Dover edition of Arbeau)


SCA Renaissance Dance Homepage

What's New?

If you have any suggestions or contributions for this page, please write me at lindahl@pbm.com.

Western social dance in the Renaissance is also being actively studied and recreated by many groups. There is an active Internet mailing list, named RENDANCE, whose members include SCAdians, historical dance professionals, and amateurs. There is also an SCA-specific mailing list, called sca-dance. RENDANCE subscription information is on the RENDANCE homepage; for sca-dance subscriptions and archive, see these hints.

Non-Western Music and Dance

I don't have that much good information on non-Western dance or music, but there are a couple of sources of middle-eastern info on the Web.


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Gregory Blount of Isenfir (Greg Lindahl)