 The author of The Theme of Music in Northern Renaissance Banquet Scenes , Robert Quist , has said that the painting was part of a series of Seven Deadly Sins and Virtues and that the paintings " attest to [ Bruegel 's ] moral devotions " . He says " While dancing may appear innocuous or natural for peasants , it poses a palpable threat to the human soul . Its [ dancing ] usefulness in characterizing the peasantry as wild and unruly undoubtedly derives from the moral opprobrium in which dancing was held by religious and civil <unk> alike . Ray Brock , on the contrary , has described Bruegel as a " hard @-@ drinking , hard @-@ living Flemish pleasant who packed his forty @-@ four years of life bursting with merrymaking and furious painting — which he regarded as sheer joy " . This indicates that Bruegel , despite having a moral compass and being acutely aware of the expected standards imposed by the church state at the time , was likely to have enjoyed similar festivities in his own life . 
