An Introduction to America’s Music

48 PART 1 | FROM COLONIZATION THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR

DANCING AND DANCE MUSIC

For centuries, dance has been a lightning rod for American public opinion. Two

controversial issues have repeatedly surfaced since the 1600s: dance’s erotic

dimension and efforts to keep it under control, and dance’s connection with

social class. Even though dance is being discussed here as a secular activity, it has

long been a matter for debate in American religious life. Moreover, like clothing

and manners, dancing has often served as a marker of social trends and fashion.

Before the Civil War, most American social dances came from Europe. More

recent ly, t hey have or ig i nated ch iefl y on this side of the Atlantic, with new dances

tending to be physically freer than the ones they replace (ragtime, discussed in

chapter 10, is a prime example). In the story of popular dance’s development

in America, Puritanism has often been assigned a villain’s role. Dances once

denounced as instruments of the devil now appear quite proper, making objec-

tions raised against them seem quaint. Important issues were at stake, however,

in the debates that dance has inspired.

The lack of common ground between social dance and the Puritan imagina-

tion may be traced to the belief that spirit and fl esh are contrary forces locked in

a perpetual struggle. Devout Puritans saw themselves as sinners dependent on

the grace of God. Dance that celebrated the human body did so, they believed, at

the soul’s expense. Yet while mistrusting the spirit of dance, Puritans acknowl-

edged that it could be effective as a way to discipline the young. In a tract with

a title whose religious passion echoes through the ages—An Arrow against Profane

and Promiscuous Dancing; Drawn out of the Quiver of the Scriptures (Boston, 1684)—the

Reverend Increase Mather, father of Cotton, wrote that if “the Design of Danc-

ing is only to teach children good Behaviour and a decent Carriage,” then he

could approve it. To keep “uncleanness” (i.e., sexuality) at bay, however, Mather

recommends that girls and boys be taught separately, and by a pious teacher. The

one adult Mather refers to in this passage is the dancing master. It was hard for

Puritans to believe that grown men and women could dance together while still

honoring and glorifying God.

For non-Puritans, however, dance has not always been considered a secu-

lar activity. African religions brought to North America by slaves gave dance a

crucial role (see chapter 4). Many American Indian tribes have also relied on

music and movement together to establish contact with the spiritual realm.

Even within Anglo-American culture, the Shakers, a celibate sect founded in late

eighteenth-century England that endured in this country into the early twenty-

fi rst century, were known for their sacred dancing.

Most Anglicans considered dancing to be a secular activity but did not share

the Puritans’ disapproval of it. In 1714 King’s Chapel in Boston hired Edward

Enstone from London as its organist, anticipating that his work would include

dance instruction. There were also dancing masters in colonial Boston from the

1670s on, whatever the Puritans thought of them. At one end of the dance spec-

trum were skills taught formally by masters like Enstone that prepared people to

attend social functions such as balls. At the other was a casual, informal pastime

taking place at home and as part of festive occasions.

Dance manuals and musical sources reveal that Americans of the colonial era

performed both couple dances and country dances. Couple dances, including the

gavotte, the bourrée, and especially the minuet, were courtly affairs of French ori-

gin that called for precise, schooled movements. To perform such dances well was

Puritan attitudes

toward dancing

Anglican attitudes

toward dancing

dance types

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