2. Situating the Minuet

Abstract

The chapter looks at the current state of research on the minuet, focusing on the naming of the dance and how it corresponds to one or more basic movement structures. Secondly, it investigates the dance’s distribution in time and space and whether it can be compared to contentions and ideas about its “origin” or whether political and social references have had an impact on the dance’s status. The chapter make excursions into the European context, including research, even if the book is mainly concentrated on the forms and the roles of the dance in the Nordic countries.