head. These styles in fashion were considered attractive at the time. However, they also made it difficult for people to make any kind of extreme movements. This restriction on movement was apparent in the popular ballroom dances of the time. Prior to the nineteenth century, one of the most popular dances was the pavan. This was "a quiet, gliding dance" which was favored by the people of the time because it was "in keeping both with their etiquette and the rich, heavy materials of the ladies' costumes" (Sorell, 1967, p. 73). Another popular dance was the minuet. Again, this dance required very little in the way of expressive movement. In fact, the minuet has been described as being "static, unemotional and totally mannered" (p. 74).
During the early nineteenth century, both fashion and dance began to change. The revolutions which had occurred in America and Europe had brought about an end to the period of aristocratic rule. The changes in fashion at the time reflected this important development. The pretentious and ornate clothing that had existed before became more practical. Because it was more practical, the clothing allowed greater ease of movement than ever before. Changes in ballroom dance at the time also reflected the shift from an aristocratic to a middle-class society. Thus, dances began to be held in public "assembly rooms" rather than in palaces and courts like they had been before (Clarke and Crisp, 1981, p. 101). In
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