The Historical Dance Society

The Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society was founded in 1970 in memory of Mabel Dolmetsch to promote knowledge of historical dance. The name was changed to The Historical Dance Society in 2015.

The society promotes 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.

We run regular workshops, study days and an annual summer school. Details of these can be found on our site.

We produce dance instruction booklets and accompanying recorded music, based on our own dance research. These can be purchased through our site.

We publish Historical Dance, the leading journal for research in the subject. Most articles from previous issues are available for downloading and book reviews appear on the web site prior to publication in the journal.

We work with several other organisations involved in early dance in the UK and around the world. There are links on our site to several sites providing information and resources about early dance and music.

You can follow our latest news through the updates on our Facebook page.

It would be great if you could attend any of our events.