This video looks at four centuries of Western social dance history. Authentic re-creations of the dances teach the viewer about socializing and romance in past times. Dancers in period costume introduce historical context and explore how many social dance styles migrated from Europe to America, such as Italian Renaissance formalism, French Baroque classicism, and 19th century Romanticism. The video features a performance by Carol Téten’s Dance Through Time company and their survey of 15th û 19th century dances. The video also includes simultaneous instructive text and diagrams with descriptions that truly take advantage of combining video with original sources, allowing users to view text that provides historical context and identify each movement source.

Originally released by Dancetime Publications, 2017. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on February 02, 2017.

15th Century France: Balli (3:13); --16th Century Italy: A Dance Suite (4:53); -- 18th Century France: A Dance Suite (6:36); -- Early 19th Century England: Country Dances (4:46); -- Mid-19th Century America: Quadrille (7:36); -- Mid-19th Century America: Durang's Hornpipe (3:47); -- Late 19th Century England: Polka, Mazurka and Waltz (9:45); -- Credits: Dancetime! 500 Years of Social Dance 1 (2:55);.