Early dances (Music for Dancing)

In ancient times,dances were used as a way of praying.People danced and sang to ask their gods to make crops grow.But this died out in most parts of Europe when Christainity became the most common religion.We know from books and pictures that dancing was still popular, but very little dance music from before about 1350 has been found.This is probably because the only music written down in this period was church music.But gradually people began to write folk and dance music down too.

During the 15th and 16th centuries,the basse danse was very popular.This was in fact a series of dances in several different styles.However the music was never very fast because the clothes people wore were so bulky that they were not able to move quickly.

Imfromation from:/More Easy Piano Classics , Caroline Phipps , ISBN 0 - 7460 - 1698 - 0