
Dance in the Renaissance: European Fashion, French Obsession
Margaret McGowan examines the diverse forms of dance in the Renaissance, contemporary attitudes towards dance, and the light this throws on moral, political and aesthetic concerns of the time. Among the subjects she covers are: expectations of dance; style, costume, music and social coding; court dance versus social dancing; dance and the Valois dynasty; professional dancers, virtuosos and choreographers; burlesque; opposition to dance; and dance and the people. McGowan's sophisticated analysis of formal dance treatises allows her to recreate a sense of the actual practice of Renaissance dance and the mechanics of making a ballet. Nearly one hundred illustrations, many of them rare, accompany the text.
Buy this book at Amazon- Year
- 2008
- Genre
- History
- Topics
- Renaissance danceFrench court cultureDance history
Awards
- Wolfson History PrizeWon(2009)
If you liked Dance in the Renaissance: European Fashion, French Obsession, you could also like these

Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet
Jennifer Homans
0 wins · 4 score

Shopping in the Renaissance
Evelyn Welch
1 win · 8 score

The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
Charles Rosen
1 win · 12 score

Death and the Enlightenment: Changing Attitudes to Death Among Christians and Unbelievers in Eighteenth-Century France
John McManners
1 win · 8 score

Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century
John Brewer
1 win · 8 score

The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History
Robert Darnton
1 win · 12 score

Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West
Peter N. Stearns
0 wins · 3 score

Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century
Jennifer Homans
1 win · 15 score

At Home with the Marquis de Sade: A Life
Francine du Plessix Gray
0 wins · 4 score

Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair
John Bossy
1 win · 8 score

New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery
Anthony Grafton
1 win · 8 score

Transformations of Love: The Friendship of John Evelyn and Margaret Godolphin
Frances Harris
1 win · 8 score

France, 1848–1945: Ambition, Love and Politics
Theodore Zeldin
1 win · 8 score

Chivalry
Maurice Keen
1 win · 8 score

The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1550–1700: An Interpretation
Robert Evans
1 win · 8 score