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Western dance

Christianity and the Middle Ages

Dancing was traditional also among the tribes of barbarians to the north, as attested by the writings of the Christian missionaries. Wherever they went, they found the same fertility-rite dances—if in different guise, the same charm dances to induce good and ward off evil, the same warrior and weapon dances to bolster fighting morale, and the same uncontrolled expressions of the joy of life, which the missionaries attributed to the devil.

Erotic dancing was not the exclusive property of heathen societies. In Byzantium, the Christian emperor Justinian I (483–565) married the notorious Theodora, a dancer who had appeared in the nude in theatrical performances. About 500, St. Caesarius of Arles reported a sacrificial banquet ending in some demoniacal dancing rites performed to the accompaniment of lewd songs. The Anglo-Saxons had little girls performing dances at Easter in which a phallus was carried in front of them.

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