Putting the “Ball” Back in Ballads

Considering early modern ballads in terms of social history, print history, and music can distract us from the fact that ballads, even in print, were kinetic experiences for the people who wrote them, bought them, and sang them. The very word ballad derives from the Old French baler, to dance. “Putting the ‘Ball’ Back in Ballads” analyzes explicit dance motifs in a half dozen early modern ballads, to make the case that bodily cues remain vestigial presences even in ballads that seem to have nothing to do with dance.