The Society, founded in 1979, exists to encourage the revival and enjoyment of historical dancing.
Classes are held weekly on Tuesday evenings from 19:45–21:45 in Cambridge, England. All classes
include some dances suitable for beginners, who are always welcome. It is not necessary to bring a
partner or to wear period dress. What you will need, if you join the class, is shoes that have a soft
and flexible sole. Jazz shoes are suitable (but make sure the sole is chrome suede, not plastic or
smooth leather), as are Greek sandals and Scottish dance shoes (ghillies).
Teaching is given mainly in Mediæval and Renaissance dancing, as practised at the courts of Europe
in the 14th–17th centuries, but some attention is also paid to the dance styles of the 18th and 19th
centuries.
Classes are arranged each year in three terms of about ten weeks each. Here
are the term dates for the coming year.
The venue is St Mark's Hall (behind
St Mark's Church), Barton Road, Newnham, Cambridge, CB3 9JZ.
The annual subscription to join the Society is £5.00, and the class fee per term is £30.00. It is
possible to join a free trial class.
Who was Capriol?
Capriole, which means "caper", is actually the name of a dance-step; and Capriol is also the
name of someone appearing in the French dance treatise
Orchésographie, written by Thoinot Arbeau and published in
1589. This took the form of a dialogue between the teacher, Arbeau, and his pupil, called Capriol
— who is thus the prototype dance student.
