Baroque

Baroque dance is dance of the Baroque era in Europe (roughly 1600–1750), closely linked with Baroque music, theatre and opera. If you'd like to do a Baroque dance, take a look at Mr. Beveridge's Maggot, an English country dance.

English country dance

The majority of surviving choreographies from the Baroque period are English country dances, such as those in the many editions of Playford's The Dancing Master. Playford only gives the floor patterns of the dances, with no indication of the steps. However other sources of the period, such as the writings of the French dancing-masters Feuillet and Lorin, indicate that steps more complicated than simple walking were used at least some of the time.

English country dance survived well beyond the Baroque era and eventually spread in various forms across Europe and its colonies, and to all levels of society. See the article on English country dance for more information.

The French Noble style

A costume design for Louis XIV as The Rising Sun, from the final entrée of Le Ballet de la Nuit (1653).

The great innovations in dance in the 17th century originated at the French court under Louis XIV, and it is here that we see the first clear stylistic ancestor of classical ballet. The same basic technique was used both at social events, and as theatrical dance in court ballets and at public theaters. The style of dance is commonly known to modern scholars as the French noble style or belle danse (French, literally "beautiful dance"), however it is often referred to casually as baroque dance in spite of the existence of other theatrical and social dance styles during the baroque era.