Dance attendance on

The derivation of this phrase isn’t known. It probably has the same root source as kick one’s heels, although that is a later phrase. Both phrases refer to someone shuffling and tapping their feet impatiently while waiting to be summoned.

The first citation of ‘dance attendance’ is from John Skelton’s Why come ye nat to courte?, circa 1522:

“And Syr ye must daunce attendance, And take patient sufferaunce, For my Lords Grace, Hath now no time or space, To speke with you as yet.”

YORK:
I’ll tell thee, Suffolk, why I am unmeet:
First, for I cannot flatter thee in pride;
Next, if I be appointed for the place,
My Lord of Somerset will keep me here,
Without discharge, money, or furniture,
Till France be won into the Dauphin’s hands:
Last time, I danced attendance on his will
Till Paris was besieged, famish’d, and lost.

See other – phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.