Styles and epochs - a short overview

Middle ages

Many ensembles and workshops perform and advertise so-called "medieval dances" - but in fact the first detailed and therefore easily reconstructable dance descriptions date from the middle of the 15th century. We know the names of quite a few popular dances of earlier centuries, like French Estampie and Espringale, German and Bohemian Ridewanz and Gofenanz, but we haven't got any notations of these medieval favorites. Only the descriptions of the steps and figures of the Carol(e), a popular dance danced in a row or circle, seem more clear. Therefore all attempts of reconstructing medieval dances are based on later sources, as the Branles of the Renaissance are believed to have derived from medieval group dances.