A brief historical review of dancing shoes

1. Dancing shoes - Park One
(Primeval to Polka)
Cameron Kippen
toeslayer2000@yahoo.com.au

2. In the beginning
Early man seems to have
enjoyed dancing, first by
himself, then with
other men and eventually,
and sensibly, with women.
The earliest dances were
probably celebratory, to
enhance fertility, to honour
a victory, or rejoice in a
bountiful harvest.
Dance is an important part of
civilisation and brought with it
its own language

3. Dance predates written
culture and was thought to
function as a key way to
communicate identity and
custom and in this way
preserve the tribe‟s
continuity.
In many primal cultures
music and dance formed part
magical or religious rituals as
well as celebratory events.
The “dancing sorcerer
(circa 10,000 BCE)

4. Dancing was manifest in
ancient temple worship, in
Greece, in the Middle East
and in India.
Dance also formed part of
wedding ceremonies and
contained reference to
appropriate nuptial
behaviour.

5. The Belly Dancers
(Awalim) were dancing
girls who would combine
their womanly charms
with prostitution.
During festivals to worship Isis and
Osiris, and Apis followers openly
danced to musical complement.

6. Dance became very popular
among the Greeks and they
considered it a healthy
pastime akin to aerobics.
Aristotle (384 BCE – 322
BCE) ranked dancing with
poetry and said that certain
dancers, with rhythm
applied to gesture, could
express manners, passions,
and actions.
Veiled dancer from Myrina
circa 150–100 BCE

7. In the early centuries of the
Roman Empire dancing was
frowned upon because it was
considered an erotic and
licentious inducement.
The developed a dance form
which emphasised less aesthetic,
spectacle and mime. Gestures
were crude as social dance
declined and religious dance
continued.
Ovid later recommended dancing
to all girls who were in love and
dancing has remained a major
part of courtship ever since.
Ovid (43 BC – AD 17/18)

8. This became a feature of
European life in the late
twelfth century.
Distinctly the pastime of
nobility it featured only
on special occasions.
The "carole" or "carola" was
a popular Court dance

9. The first detailed
descriptions of dancing
date from 1450 in Italy.
It become a popular
pastime with the masses
which required no
audience,
commemorative
occasion or training. Dancers went hand-in-hand and a
leader sang the ballad.

10. Between the 13th to
16th century large
populations of Europe
were afflicted with
frenzied dancing.
People gathered
together and danced
until they dropped with
exhaustion or
sometimes death.Choreomania was initially
thought to be caused by spider
bites

11. The parade was led by a
figure representing death
and became established after
the Black Death (1373).
It is thought the dance of
death reflected rituals
performed by primitive
peoples, who had also
danced to acknowledge the
passing of the seasons of the
year and of a human life on
Earth.

12. Battle dances including the
sword dances were
performed throughout
Europe.
Village people performed
fertility dances including
Morris Dancing. On certain
saints' days women also danced
in churches.

13. Apart from ceremonial shoes
which were found in tribal
dancing from North America to
Australia there appears to be no
special shoe requirement for
European dancing until after the
11th Century in Europe where
more and more social dancing
became the prerogative of
aristocracy.

14. By the sixteenth century
court dancing was well
established and the tune
Green Sleeves was
popular.
Green Sleeves is
considered by many to
be the oldest dance tune
to have survived into
modern times.
„My Lady Greensleeves‟ by
Dante Gabriel Rossetti(1864)

15. During the 16th century
ballrooms became popular
and being dressed for a ball
all the more so. The best
finery was the order of the
day and more and more the
noblemen and women wore
special ballroom slippers.
These became known as the
“dancing shoes” or
“pumps.”

16. Napoleon's legacy to cultured
Europe was the fashionable
dress balls that were he held
in his honour.
As soon as Paris succumbed
to dancing for pleasure then
popularity for such occasions
swept through the civilised
world.

17. A superb opportunity
to display the peacock
arrogance of the male
and men wore
military style boots.
Women by contrast
wore slippers every
bit as delicate as
modern ballet shoes.
Empire Shoes were low
heel pumps, sometimes
worn with ribbons
wrapped around the ankle

18. After the political upheavals of the
18th and 19th centuries, dances once
performed by the aristocracy alone,
became popular among ordinary
people.
By the mid-19th century, popular
dances attracted many participants
who performed minuets, quadrilles,
polkas, and waltzes all of European
origin.

19. The waltz gave new
freedoms to couples with
its gliding, whirling
movements.
Partners held themselves
temptingly close.
The turning action to fast
music tempo was thought
to cause intoxication
Johann Strauss I (1804 – 1849)

20. The old people downright denounced it and
young people, danced it non stop.

21. Byron claimed:
„Lewd grasp and lawless
contact between dancers in
public would not leave much
to mystery to the nuptial night
.‟
To its critics the Waltz was
"will corrupting", "disgusting"
and "immodest.”
Despite moribund
protestations the Waltz
became the fad dance in 1855.
Lord Byron (1788 –1824)

22. The Great War
People stopped dancing because it was mistakenly
thought to be a German dance.

23. Not to be outdone by the
fashionable Europeans, American,
John Philip Sousa introduced the
world to the military two step.
Set to a march like tempo the dance
involved marching and skipping.
Less intimate, more novel and
The Polka celebrated the new
fashion of militaria.
John Philip Sousa
(1854 –1932)

24. Scott Joplin
(1867 - 1917)
For the amusement of the rich in the
southern states of North America
black folks were encouraged to
lampoon formal dancing styles.
Set to energetic rhythms of ragged
music dancers demonstrated both
agility and athleticism as they
competed for attention.
Prizes of cakes were offered to those
dancers who displayed the greatest
creativeness.
Ragged music became Ragtime and
was the forerunner of Jazz.

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