The Puritans who came to Boston many years before Paul Revere's time thought that dancing was bad. When Paul Revere was growing up more people did dance. Dancing usually started with a minuet. Couples stepped back and forth to the music. On cold nights there was faster music. Even in the Keeping Room, one fireplace cold not keep the whole room warm. The people could not keep warm with a slow minuet.
Since the early houses were not big and fancy, they were not warm. Sometimes a house was so cold in the winter that if a person was writing a letter the ink on the pen might freeze.