The history of dance

Fun and methodical informative online lecture as part of the York Festival of Ideas looking at a brief history of social dancing.

Given by historic dance expert, Charlotte Adcock, this was a very ordered overview of the subject, going through each era and describing the dances of the period and where our knowledge of them has come from. I blog it here as it illuminated dances you see in paintings as well as using those painting to illustrate the talk. Although she described this as a brief overview it was packed with information and interest.

She made me think about new ideas for example I’d never thought before how the invention of the piano, which allowed more music in the home, also brought dancing out of the ball room and into the home, and I liked the inclusion of sources for the subject such as Playford’s Dancing Master as well as other publications by contemporary dance teachers.

I’ll certainly be checking out her YouTube channel and hope to see one of her demonstrations post lockdown.