A Definition of English Country Dancing

The English "country dance" as we know it today is an amalgamation of several genres:

• folk/vernacular dances popular in the English countryside, spanning more than 400 years



• court/cultured dances composed by the "dancing masters" of the 17th and 18th Centuries, first published in dozens of editions of John Playford's "The English Dancing Master" beginnning in 1651 and by subsequent publishers



• the work of modern choreographers composing dances in the tradition of the rural folk dance (called "barn" or "ceilidh" dances) and in the style of the court dances (often called "Playford" or "historical" English dances)