My Virtual Reading Room

Dancing

(petrusplancius--this is the passage I mentioned)

In polite circles you will be expected to dance and, if you are French or Italian, to do so very well. The Queen herself was, when younger, an excellent and enthusiastic dancer and still loves to watch others dance. According to the French ambassador 'when her Maids dance she follows the cadence with her head, hand and foot. She rebukes them if they do not dance to her liking and without doubt she is mistress of the art, having learnt in the Italian manner.'

Court dances are stately. The grave pavane may be danced even by those well past youth, wearing long gowns and even hats and gloves. The allemande is another processional dance, but in three parts. When the music stops, dancers converse with their partners; each time it starts again it is faster, ending gaily. This is the sort of dance in which the feet never leave the floor and hence is known as a dance basse.

The galliard, cinquepace and coranto are much more lively. The most spectacular is the volta, where the gentleman clasps the lady round the waist and lifts her right off the ground, spinning as he does so. For this dance it is advisable to take off one's sword and cloak to avoid tripping over them. Dances involving running, leaping or lifting are called haute dance.

Country dances, to the simple music of pipe and tabor, are also on occasion seen at Court. In taverns and in London streets and on suburban village greens on holidays, the dances of the common people are joyous jigs and rounds, accompanied among the young by much flirtation and kissing.

(From "Shakespeare's London on 5 groats a day" by Richard Tames)

[you can read the passage on football from the same book over here]