Medieval Dance!

I hope everyone had a great Spring Break! Mine involved a lot of sleep. When I saw that one of the choices for the final project was a dance, I jumped to it immediately! Dancing is the most fun way to express oneself!

Medieval dance had a huge impact on it's culture, and continues to influence others like ours today. Some forms of Medieval dance gave us our holiday music or other details. There are at least a dozen or more recognizable dances, and each served their own purpose in society. Some dances were created for everybody, usually being easier and simple so that everyone could join. The Carol dance was one of these and were practiced in chains of people holding hands; this dance could be performed in rural areas or royal. All Medieval dances mean something or represent a certain type of emotion like love, joy, or happiness. In the Medieval era, there was a huge lower class which were restricted financially in the ways that one could enjoy them self or commune with others in a joyful manner. Dancing only required a somewhat healthy body, which most people had, and this gave many people a way to enjoy themselves with no distinction of class, age, or career. Attire was usually predictable. Upper class would have special ordered clothing, whether that included silk dresses, or finely woven tunics for men. Lower class wore everyday clothing. However in both cases it was customary to prepare for dances, so it may have been possible that both classes wore an above average set of attire before a festival or community dance.

The music that was danced to in Medieval ages were performed by a various amounts of percussion instruments like long drums or bells. Many remastered versions of medieval dance music contains a lot of shaking and banging! You also had your typical stringed and winged instruments like the lute, flute, fiddle or tambourine! When listening to Medieval songs, it is easy for one to notice the adding and removing of instruments at different times during the piece. This is so that the people dancing, whether in large crowds or small soloist could recognize the different stages of the song. Rhythm and pace-keeping were very important in Medieval dance so that it would stay coordinated and structured.

I think the most interesting detail of Medieval dance was the response the Church had given to it. Starting out, the Church saw dance as a supremely wicked deed and only a starting point of debauchery and adultery. Many bishops would curse dancers in the street and warned the masses of their "evil" nature. However, as many know, dance is a form of story-telling and expression of a situation. As time will tell, this would soften the heart of the Church and it eventually was implemented into some masses. Even today when some sway or move in rhythmic manner during hymns, shows that the Medieval era had influence concerning dance and religious practice.

Medieval Dance was a lot of fun to study, and I wasn't aware of the implications that it had with the Church. I can't wait till we have to do it!

P.S. I commented on Tory's "Medieval Dance"