Dance research has grown tremendously in recent years. In striving to develop significant methodologies and approaches individual researchers have turned to other disciplines to explore their modes of inquiry. Dance researchers have become immersed in the theories and ways of such areas as biography, deconstructionism, ethnography, feminism, linguistics, phenomenology, and semiotics, and have applied the approaches they found to dance research.

In June, 1989, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro hosted and cosponsored a Congress on Research in Dance regional conference titled Modes of Inquiry: Critical Issues in Dance Scholarship. The preliminary call for papers stated:

Fostered to celebrate lives of saints, apostles, or other biblical characters, liturgical drama was popular throughout Europe at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. In Italy, these religious dramas were called sacre rappresentazioni; in England, miracles; in France, mystères; and in German, Fastnachtspiele. Sizeable collections from diverse countries, such as the English Coventry mysteries written mostly in 1468, are available for study in modern editions. These dramas were often performed at various cities during civic holidays. For instance, on the birthday of John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence, sacre rappresentazioni celebrating events of his life were performed at designated places in the city. The religious dramas were also performed during state or private festivities, such as visits of important clergy or rulers, or wedding celebrations. Productions of these dramas were often staged during the carnival season. Sometimes they were performed by confraternities at specific churches that wanted to celebrate their patron saints, or by guilds. Sometimes these dramas were performed at a single area and other times they were simultaneously staged, and then performed as a cycle. They could be performed on the ground, on raised stages, or on pageant wagons. The form generally has a strict rhyme scheme, and earlier dramas contain fewer stage directions than later ones.

The nineteenth century brought a tidal wave of immigrants from many European countries to the United States. The immigrants tended to cluster in various areas across the country. One group came from what is now known as Czechoslovakia and settled in an area of eastern Iowa. Today, Cedar Rapids has the largest Czech community in the state. The population of the town and its metropolitan area is 125,000 and the Czech population is estimated at 30%, counting third and fourth generation Czechs.

From their earliest arrival in the community around 1852 the Czechs congregated in an area that became known as “Little Bohemia,” where they formed their own community life. They continued their traditional hobbies of lace-making, egg-painting, theater, music, gymnastics, and dancing.