I would be very interested in pursuing Grover Zinn's question about
the uses of dance in the medieval liturgy. At the same time, I
would like the widen the scope of the discussion to include instances
of dancing in vernacular drama. Offhand, I can think of only one
eaxmple of dancing in medieval English drama, and that is in
"Wisdom." Are there others? The REED volumes are full of references
to waits and musicians, but are there references to dancers? English
religious drama seems to differ markedly from early Continental drama
in this respect. French and German Passion plays, Easter plays, and
saint plays often include dance at particularly significant moments
of the performance. Examples range from the beatific (the dance of the
angelic host when the Virgin is received into heaven in the
Innsbruck/Neustift Assumption play) to the demonic (the dance of
Synagoga and theJews at the foot of the cross in the Alsfeld Passion
play). I would be grateful if anyone could direct me to studies
of the history and functions of dance in late medieval culture,
particularly studies of theatrical dance. I'm already aware of
the chapter in Axton's "European Drama of the Early Middle Ages"
and the recent work of Catherine Dunn--what else should I read?
Thanks,
Steve Wright
WRIGHTS@CUAVAX
