The politics of courtly dancing in early modern England
By: Skiles Howard.
Series: Massachusetts studies in early modern culture
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Amherst
Language: eng
Number of pages: 222
Subjects: Dance -- England -- History -- 16th century.; Dance -- England -- History -- 17th century.; Dance -- Social aspects -- England -- History -- 16th century.; Dance -- Social aspects -- England -- History -- 17th century.; Dance in literature -- History -- 16th century.; Dance in literature -- History -- 17th century.
Description: Skiles Howard examines the social and semiotic complexities of dancing as it changed over time and performed different work in court, city, and play-house. She shows how dancing reflected and shaped wider social changes: the performance of gender roles facilitated the formation of the patriarchal family, the execution of physical tropes of hierarchy supported the rise of a centralized state, and rehearsals of spatial mastery assisted the project of national expansion.

As a visual and kinetic discourse by which social norms were circulated, dancing inevitably became a site of contestation; as elite and popular practices collided, interacted, and were transformed, countervailing social forces found expression through the medium of dancing.

Interdisciplinary in its approach, this study draws on court masque and popular drama, dancing manuals, Puritan pamphlets, and educational and medical treatises to explore issues of power and the body, gender and rank, popular culture and European expansion.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-216) and index.