From the mid-13th to the mid-18th century the ability to dance was an important social skill for both men and women. Dance performances were an integral part of court ceremonies and festivals and, in the 17th and 18th centuries, of commercial theatrical productions. Whether at court or in the public theater danced spectacles were multimedia events that required close collaboration among artists, musicians, designers, engineers, and architects as well as choreographers. In order to fully understand these practices, it is necessary to move beyond a consideration of dance alone, and to examine it in its social context. This original collection brings together the work of 12 scholars from the disciplines of dance and music history. Their work presents a picture of dance in society from the late medieval period to the middle of the 18th century and demonstrates how dance practices during this period participated in the intellectual, artistic, and political cultures of their day. CONTENTS: Part 1. Introduction and Overview 1. Dance in Europe 1250–1750 Part 2. Dance at Court and in the City 2. Dance in Late Thirteenth-Century Paris 3. Dance and Society in Quattrocento Italy 4. Dance in Sixteenth- and Early Seventeenth-Century France Part 3. Dance and the Public Theater 5. Pierre Beauchamps and the Public Theater 6. Dance in the London Theaters c. 1700–1750 Part 4. Choreographic Structure and Music 7. The Relationship between Dance and Music in Fifteenth-Century Italian Dance Practice 8. The Basse Dance c. 1445–c. 1545 9. Choreographic Structure in Baroque Dance Part 5. Dance and the State 10. Your Most Humble Subject, Cesare Negri Milanese 11. The Politics of Ballet at the Court of Louis XIV 12. Mr. Isaac's The Pastorall and Issues of "Party" Part 6. Dance, Society, and the Cosmos 13. Plato's Philosophy of Dance 14. Moral Views on Dance 15. Order, Proportion, and Geometric Forms: The Cosmic Structure of Dance, Grand Gardens, and Architecture during the Renaissance List of Dance Treatises, Manuscripts, Modern Editions, and Translations Glossary Bibliography List of Contributors Index