Whether in the private parlor, public hall, commercial "dance palace," or sleazy dive, dance has long been opposed by those who viewed it as immoral--more precisely as being a danger to the purity of those who practiced it, particularly women. In Adversaries of Dance, Ann Wagner presents a major study of opposition to dance over a period of four centuries in what is now the United States.

Wagner bases her work on the thesis that the tradition of opposition to dance "derived from white, male, Protestant clergy and evangelists who argued from a narrow and selective interpretation of biblical passages," and that the opposition thrived when denominational dogma held greater power over people's lives and when women's social roles were strictly limited.

Central to Wagner's work, which will be welcomed by scholars of both religion and dance, are issues of gender, race, and socioeconomic status.

Preface   vii
Introduction   xi

Part 1: European Antecedents
1. The Pre-Reformation Tradition   3
2. The Voices of Protestant Reformers   19

Part 2: American Attitudes
3. The Puritans in New England: The Seventeenth Century   47
4. The Gentry and the Awakening: The Eighteenth Century   70
5. Early Evangelicals and American Etiquette: 1800-1839   106
6. The Evangelical Mainstream and Radical Reformers: 1840-60   141
7. Conservatives, Liberals, and the City: 1865-89   193
8. Embattled Fundamentalists and the Rhetoric of Moral Panic: 1890-1939   236
9. Urban Reformers and the Dance Hall: 1908-40   292
10. The Polemic Upstaged: 1930-69 and Beyond   320

Part 3: Critical Variables and Cultural Context
11. The Nature of Dance and the Polemic in Reprise   363
12. Aesthetics, Morality, and Gender   383
Appendix
A. Bible Verses on Dance   401
B. Known European Adversaries of Dance   407
C. Lesser-Known Adversaries Mentioned in the Text   413
Index   423