We promote the study, practice, education, and public engagement in the performance, music, and costume of European and other dances from the 15th to 20th centuries as recorded in the sources of the period.
If you’re looking for information about historical dances, or maybe some music or video footage, please contact us and we’ll be delighted to help you.
Explore our website to learn more about our workshops, study days and annual summer schools, as well as the publications, journal and resources available to members and non-members.
Bromsgrove, West Midlands, 10-17 July 2026. Nicolle Klinkeberg: “La Belle Danse” – Baroque from the Ballroom. Anne Daye: Country dances, Cotillions and the Ballroom Minuet. Ann Hinchliffe: English Country Dances (weekend course).
Read more… Summer School 2026: Dancing in the Ballrooms of 18th century England and France
A day of dance led by Ann and Paul Kent, authors of The Boone Companion to launch its publication.
Saturday 14th March 2026 10.30 to 16.30 in St Albans. They will introduce and teach a selection of dances from their book ‘The Boone Companion’, which consists of dances of mid-seventeenth-century England from the Pattricke, Sloane, Lansdowne manuscripts, all of which are hitherto unpublished sources.
Dances for Queen Victoria presents a collection of dances that were taught to Queen Victoria’s children by Edinburgh dancing master Joseph Lowe, accompanied with new recordings of the music and new essays that shed light on the collection’s historical context and significance.
Registrations are open for the 6th Historical Dance Symposium. “Transitions” – Dance in times of Change, 1400–1900. 3–7 June 2026, Burg Rothenfels am Main, Germany. The focus will be on the changes and developments that social and stage dance underwent during the turbulent years from 1400 to 1900. The conference will be preceded by a high-quality baroque dance course that can be combined with the symposium: “The Art of Dancing” – Kellom Tomlinson and the Beauty of Port de Bras, with Caroline Copeland, USA
Dances of mid-seventeenth-century England from the Pattricke, Sloane, Lansdowne manuscripts & Playford by Paul and Ann Kent. The book contains instructions for 18 dances from the three manuscripts and reworking of two Playford dances.
Dances of the French Courts: 16th century Dance, Music and Songs from France, is a collection of dances and their music from the reign of François I (1515-1547) to that of the young Louis XIII in 1614 researched by Anne Daye with music recorded by Passomezzo directed by Tamsin Lewis.