One of the earliest accounts of the Schuhplattler may date from 1030 AD, when a monk in the
Tegernsee Abbey of Bavaria described a village dance containing leaps and hand gestures. Over the centuries, the form gradually evolved as farmers, hunters, and woodsmen practiced it in the isolated towns and villages of the Bavarian and Tyrolean Alps. Sometimes, it was performed as a partner dance, with couples doing a
Ländler and then splitting up so the girls could twirl in their colorful
Dirndln as the boys showed off their . At other times, just the boys were onstage, arranged in a circle, square, or line, ing wildly for the audience. These two approaches are sometimes distinguished as the Schuhplattlertanz and Schuhplattler proper, but the "boys' dance" is at the core of both forms and is most often described. The immediate precursors of today's Schuhplatter were the 18th-century minuet, quadrille, and Française, but unlike these courtly and highly stylized dances, the early of the common folk were free of rules. The young men improvised their leaps, stomps, and acrobatic figures "as it struck their fancy." Acrobatics were an important part of the dance at least by the 1820s, when boys began balancing on the shoulders of their partners and stamping their feet rhythmically on the ceiling! Early Schuhplattlers often highlighted the towns where they were invented or imitated the various professions of the performers, such as the (miller's dance), the (wood cutter), and the (bell dance). The music was generally in three-quarter time, like the
Ländler, and was performed on the zither or the guitar, and by 1830s, the accordion or concertina. In 1838, the Empress of Russia was honored with a Schuhplattler by the residents of the bath town of Wildbad Kreuth, and the aristocracy, fascinated by the strange costumes and quaint pursuits of the common folk, began taking an interest in the dance. Many consider the real birth of the modern Schuhplattler, however, to be King
Maximilian II of Bavaria's excursion through the Alps in 1858, when locals performed the dance for him, and he fell in love with it. In 1886, French traveler Hugues Krafft wrote of the Schuhplattler: On Sundays and holidays one sees couples dancing to music on larger town squares everywhere—preferably the Ländler, a leisurely waltz popular among girls and boys. The biggest attraction, however, even for the local farmers, is always the Schuhplatter. It ... begins with forming a circle. Then, while the girl is briefly separated from her partner and continues to follow waltz steps, the boy must perform a number of difficult movements to the beat of the music. He turns around on his axis, slaps his thighs and legs, falls to his knees, jumps in the air and throws his hat as he lets out a joyful whoop... Those who master the dance are cheered with vigorous applause. By the late 19th century, traditional costume clubs () were being established throughout Bavaria and Tyrol, and soon these groups spread to German communities in America and elsewhere. Since the mission of these clubs was to preserve the age-old customs, lore, and dress of the German and Austrian Alps, the Schuhplattler became a central part of their programs. The were often strict and exacting about how the dance was to be performed and how club members were to dress, although new Schuhplattler groups sprang up after the second world war that were less tied to the older forms. == Costume ==