Argues that in early modern England, dance was not merely a pleasant pastime, but an intricate network of bodily negotiations of power, sex and territory as well. This text examines the social and semiotic complexities of dancing as it changed over time and how it reflected wider social changes.

Interdisciplinary in its approach, this study draws on court masque and popular drama, dancing manuals, Puritan pamphlets and educational and medical treatises to explore issues of power and the body, gender and rank, popular culture and European expansion.