Winerock, Emily F. “Competitive Capers: Gender, Gentility, and Dancing in Early Modern England.”

Winerock, Emily F. “Competitive Capers: Gender, Gentility, and Dancing in Early Modern England.” In The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Competition, edited by Sherril Dodds, 65-85. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.


Abstract:
Examines dance manuals and the English literature of the late Renaissance to show how the galliard offered a competitive opportunity to showcase individual standing in relation to masculinity and gentility. Among the manuals discussed are Juan de Esquivel Navarro's Discursos sobre el arte del danzado (1642), Lutio Compasso's Ballo della gagliarda (1560), Thoinot Arbeau's Orchésographie (1589), Fabritio Caroso's Nobilità di dame (1600), and Cesare Negri's Le gratie d'amore (1602). Literary works discussed include Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, and Philip Massinger's The old law, William Shakespeare's Twelfth night, William Kemp's Nine dates wonder, and an anonymous song from the "Blundell Family hodgepodge book".