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.
Playford’s Dance Steps
Saturday 10 May, 10:00 – 17:00, Newcastle under Lyme. Spend a lively day learning well-known and less well-known Playford dances, with the steps that people of the time would have danced.
Summer School 2025: Dancing at the Late Renaissance Courts of Italy, England and France
NOW OPEN FOR BOOKINGS
The 55th Historical Dance Society Annual Summer School will be held from Friday 11th to Friday 18th July 2025 at Bromsgrove School, West Midlands, B61 7HP (Weekend course also available)
Tutors: Markus Lehner, Anne Daye and Roger Huggett
Read more… Summer School 2025: Dancing at the Late Renaissance Courts of Italy, England and France
The Early Dance Circle Lecture 2025
Reconstructing Seventeenth-Century Maypole Dance: Dance, Experience, Culture. Main Speaker: Bryony May Kummer-Seddon (Associate Lecturer, University of Lincoln) with comments about modern Maypole dancing by Mike Ruff. 28 February 2025, 7:30 pm, on Zoom. Bryony’s lecture will explore the reconstruction of historic maypole dancing, and its associated traditions, with a focus on seventeenth century England.
International Historical Dance Symposium 2026
Call for contributions for the International Historical Dance Symposium 3-7 June 2026 at Burg Rothenfels in Germany with the theme “Transitions” Dance in Times of Change 1400 – 1900.
New blog series: A History of Country Dancing
Anne Daye has written a series of blog posts on A History of Country Dancing (with an emphasis on the steps). To date (22 August 2024) the first five instalments are online, with four more planned.