Dance (social event)

In his book The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body, Steven J. Mithen writes: "In many societies today dancing is used as a form of display for attracting mate... Dancing is a means to show off one's physical fitness and co-ordination, qualities that would have been useful for survival in prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies." Mithen argues dance and music likely became an important tool of social interaction as soon as humans could walk and talk.[1]

Dances of the aristocracy was an important courtly pastime as attested since at least the 14th century. The earliest known dance instruction books are dated by the 15th century and they described the dances of the high society. However, the earliest records of the dancing of ordinary folk date by the end of the 16th century.[2]

"Accidents in Quadrille Dancing", 1817 caricature

Brîuleţul, Romanian dance, 19th cenury

In 18th and 19th centuries group dances dominated ballrooms, especially the quadrille. [3] In early 1900s dance and etiquette manuals paid attention to ceremonial details of the ballroom. Rules and rituals were established, including the correct ways of issuing party invitations and giving parties and balls, asking a partner to dance, appropriate conversation while dancing a quadrille, and wearing the latest ballroom fashions.[3]