Historical dances are old dances that have been reconstructed from the contemporary records such as books and manuscripts, paintings or drawings, and film.
The dances themselves may be reconstructions from written or notated choreographies, or dances in an old style using steps and movements appropriate to the period.
If a site is also relevant to earlier dance, such as baroque or renaissance, please submit it to the Arts: Performing Arts: Dance: Historical category, which covers all periods.
The English Regency is the period from 1810 to 1820, when the mental illness of King George III prevented him from performing his duties, and his son, the future George IV, acted as Regent. The social life of this period is vividly recorded in the novels of Jane Austen.
Social dances from the period include English country dances, quadrilles and cotillions.
European dance from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West until the beginning of the renaissance - that is from around 500AD to the beginning of the fifteenth century. Unfortunately, no dance manuals are known to exist from this period, so the dances must be reconstructed from indirect evidence such as iconography or descriptions in literature.
The period covers a wide variety of dance types. Examples include the estampie, the carole and the saltarello.
"Renaissance dance" is the general name given to a wide variety of European dances from around 1400, through to the early 17th century.
Dance types include the galliard, pavan, branle, alman and volta.
Many of the sites here also touch on dances from early editions of John Playford's The Dancing Master. However, these are generally considered to be post-renaissance.
Vintage dance is historical ballroom dance from around 1800 into the first half of the 20th century.
If a site is also relevant to earlier dance, such as baroque or renaissance, please submit it to the Arts: Performing Arts: Dance: Historical category, which covers all periods.