Stuart Press: Dances for Living History Events 1440-1530

Dances for Living History Events 1440-1530 by Robert Huggett illustrated by Jane Huggett. Published by Stuart Press as part of the Living History Reference Books Series 1^st edition 1999. © Historical Management Associates Ltd. 1999. ISBN 1 85804 136 8.

48 page A5 booklet. The following is extracted from the Introduction:

“The booklet is a crash course in the types of dances which could be used in a living history event set in Britain in the period between 1440 and 1530. Most of the sources for dance in this period are foreign but I think there is enough evidence to allow some general statements about the sort of dances current in England. Scotland and Wales are more problematical but are unlikely to be radically different from England. The booklet is organised as follows:

1. A reference section describing all the steps used in dances in this book
2. The dances with music organised by dance style with some notes
3. A short section about the source documents for the booklet
4. A short section about how to find out more about early dance.”

Descriptions of how to do the dances are included but there are only a few small illustrations and no diagrams of foot positions etc. However, as a brief music score is included with the dance instructions, it should be possible with a little practice to achieve something approaching the original appearance of the dance.

Minor scuffs and marks to the cover, otherwise virtually as new.