#renaissance dance

[jaz-the-bard]

Pspsps sca people i need help once again. It's dance this time

I remember this one dance, i think it was italian, where you did this little shuffle thing approximated in this drawing:

Kind of shuffling your heels then toes together to move slightly to the side across the floor

Does anybody know what this step is, or the dance?

[historicconfessions]

[my18thcenturysource]

There's a dance company here in Mexico City that say and swear they do Renaissance dance and I just watched an hour long video of them and my main comment is: what the fuck did I just see? Definitely not Renaissance dance.

And don't let me start with the costumes.

Thank you for reading my rant.

[olivia-longueville]

What was the most popular French Renaissance dance?

I think that it is especially interesting to study thedevelopment of the Renaissance dance in France and in Italy and to understandthe differences between dancing practices in these two countries. When I waswriting my novels (I’m still writing and editing them), I was primary interestedin the French Renaissance dance, which I studied in details to be able to writethe captivating and beautiful scenes of festivities and balls at the royal court.

It is fair to say that the Italians were developingmore complex dance than the French. At the same time, sophisticated dances weredeveloped at the court in Burgundy, a French-speaking territory that was politicallyindependent from France until 1482. Southern France (Provence) was moreinnovative than France but less than in Italy.

The oldest known manuscript of the Renaissance dancein French is from Burgundy. We don’t know who wrote this manuscript, but we candeduce from the musical notation that it was written in the 15th century at thelatest; it contains some instructions and notations of 59 Basses Danses andtheir music.

The primary treatise on Renaissance dance in France isL’Orchésographie(1588) by Thoinot Arbeau, whose real name was not Arbeau but JehanTabourot. It is interesting that he was not a dancing master but a cleric whopassed his days not at court but in a church diocese in the south of France.Arbeau’s treatise addresses not only dance but also the playing of drum andfife, fencing movements, and war dances.

In the late Renaissance, the court dance became morepopular in France, and it had already absorbed many advanced Italian dance practicesand styles.

King François I of France, the first Renaissance King of France, wasvery fond of the Italian Renaissance dance after he had visited Italy in 1515; he won the Battle of Marignano and returned to France in triumph. Ashe had fallen in love with Italian clothing style and court life in Italy, François I invited many Italian musicians and dance masters to his court, and even inthe later years of his reign he never abandoned his love for dance andflamboyant life.

Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henri II of France, wasItalian, and it had a great impact on her court in France; she commissioned musiciansfrom Italy, like her father-in-law, and was responsible for the development of many court fêteswith dance being a primary element. King Charles IX summoned CesareNegri, an Italian dancer and choreographer, to his court in 1560. 

King HenriIII of France, his younger brother and the last king of the Valois-Orléans-Angoulêmebranch of the House of Valois, was enamored by opulent and eccentric Italiandances so much that he could dance throughout the whole feast instead ofeating; this king was taught to dance by Italian dancing masters, and he lovedto dance  with a deep, passionate love,devoting much of his free time to dancing instead of ruling his country.

All the Renaissance dances mentioned in this post weredanced at the French royal court. It is difficult to say what dance was more popular,for it depended on what a reigning monarch liked the most.

In the 15th century, the primary dance ofthe Burgundian court was the statelyBassedanse, which was mentioned I the post I referred to.

In her book “RenaissanceCourt Dance in Italy and France. A Short Summary”, which is a good encyclopediaon the Renaissance dance which I often use, Catherine Sim writes about this dance:

“Bassadanza (Bassedanse). Fifteenth century. 2 beats to a measure.Characteristically serious, gliding along with the feet close to the floor. Animportant dance in the Burgundian courts, 1450-1480. Most Italian bassadanzahave a good deal of variety. In the same period, the French basse danse wasdone only by couples or trios, was processional, and had a fixed order ofsteps.”

In Italy, a centre of dance in Europe in theRenaissance era, another type of the same dance was popular – theBassadanza that was more sophistical and even whimsical than theBurgundian Bassedanse.  

Here you can see the video of the Renaissance Bassadanza(the link is here).

Perhaps, the galliard was one of the most popular dance atthe French court in the 15-16th centuries. Catherine Sim writes about his dance:

“Gagliarda ( gaillarde, galliard). Fifteenth and sixteenthcenturies. 3 beats to a measure. Principal step is a hopping pattern of 5 stepsdone in 6 beats of music. The mood is bright and energetic, and the dance isoften a vehicle for the man to display his virtuosity.”

Here you can see the video of the galliard (the linkis here).

Another dance, which had its roots in French-speaking Provenceand which I didn’t mention in my other post, is La Volta. It presumablyoriginated at the Provencal court of southeastern France in the end of the 11thor in the 12th centuries when troubadours were developing their concept ofcourtly love. Catherine De Medici introduced La Volta to the French court. Some dance experts consider La Volta a forerunner of the Waltzes.

It was a passionate and energetic dance that wasconsidered shamelessly obscene, lewd and unchaste by many moralists of theRenaissance time because of suggestive embrace and revealing glimpses offeminine legs, despite attempts of a dancing woman to keep her flying skirtsdown.

It is very easy to find how La Volta is performed. Youcan find the description of this dance even in Wikipedia:

“Detailed instructions for lavoltaswere written by Thoinot Arbeau; some brief notes appear in MS Douce 280. Theseinstructions are open to some interpretation, but seem to indicate somethinglike the following.

The dance begins with a galliard.Then the couple makes a transition to a closed position. The leader (the man,according to period custom) lets go of his partner’s hand and takes hold of herbelow her busk with one hand, and places the other hand on her back above thefar hip. The follower places her near hand on top of her partner’s nearshoulder. Now the leader is facing his partner while she faces to one side;both will do the turn with forward steps, and both step with the same foot atthe same time.

The turn begins with a small step,springing onto the outside foot and lifting the inside foot forward. On thesecond beat there is a longer step, stepping smoothly onto the inside foot andstaying close to the ground. During this step the follower poises herself for aspring, and just after it she springs up into the air. The leader lifts herwith his hands, then holds her up with his hands and with the thigh of his freeleg under her thighs. He lets her down to land on both feet on the last beat ofthe measure. The couple makes an approximate ¾ turn during each measure. Theturn is repeated ad lib for several measures, and then the galliard is resumedin an open position.”

In the Showtime’s “The Tudors”, we can see Anne Boleynand Henry VIII dancing La Volta, but it is one of many historical inaccuracies whichthe show has, for Anne, who spent many years of her early youth in France, could dance it atthe English court when it wasn’t popular at King François I’s court in realhistory. La Volta became popular in England during the reign of Queen ElizabethI loved this dance a lot, although its propriety was questioned.

Here you can find the links to the video of Anne Boleyndancing La Volta with Henry VIII in the Showtime’s “The Tudors” (the link ishere).

Here you can find the links to the video about La Volta during Elizabeth I’s reign (the link is here) and the video of Elizabeth dancing with Robert Dudley in the movie “Elizabeth” of 1998 (the link is here).

There is one beautiful painting of Queen Elizabeth I dancingwith Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The artist is unknown; possibly he wasMarcus Gheeraerts from the French Valois school.

In France, Ballets de cour (court ballet) was alreadyperformed in the 16th century at court, although its popularity reached itsapogee during the reign of King Louis XIV of France when Jean-Baptiste Lully composedmusic for ballets de cour, which was instrumental to the development of theform. Lully was director of the Académie Royale de Music, working with PierreBeauchamp, Molière, Philippe Quinault and Mademoiselle De Lafontaine to developballet.

[olivia-longueville]

You know that I’m fascinated by the Renaissance era! What are the Renaissance dances like?

Renaissance Dance

Renaissance socialdances fell into two broad categories.

The first category consisted of simpledances that took little or no practice that included an unlimited number ofparticipants dancing in circles, lines, or columns, such as branles and thepavan.

The second category consisted of complexdances that required the services of a dancing master as well asconsiderable practice to perfect. 

Although choreographed primarily as duets,the complex dances could be set figures for up to eight performers; they were performedfor a viewing audience and the figures were designed to be viewed from thefront, the sides, or from above the dance floor.

Thoinot Arbeau and dancepractices

Published in Langres in 1588 and republished again in 1589, ThoinotArbeau’s Orchesographie represents dance practices in France from the1550s to the 1580s. It is the only French source for this period and alsoprovides the foundation of information for dance practices in other northernEuropean countries.

Following a device used by earlier dance writers, Orchesographie was basedon a discussion between a teacher and his eager student about social dance,style, steps, and etiquette. Sprinkled throughout the manual is historicalbackground and a discussion of theory. 

The treatise provides helpfulinformation on bows (révérences) and other ballroom etiquette including theadvice that the student Capriol should keep his “head and body erect andappear self-possessed…to spit and blow [his] nose sparingly.” Arbeau’ssimple, but effective notation consisted of printing the music vertically onthe page with the name of each step beside the note on which it should occur.

Arbeau’s manual provided information on sixteenth-century marching anddrumming techniques and has been especially important for its discussion on Renaissancedrum rhythms and meter. His manual is the only source for several dances,including a men’s sword dance known as “Les Bouffons,” as well as themorisque and the volte; it also supplied early descriptions of the gavotte,allemande, and courante.

Renaissancedances are (this is a short summary):

Branle.

Branles are circle dances performed by as many couples as desired. Itdescribes more than twenty types, and many seem to indicate peasant roots;indeed, many are still danced today throughout Europe. 

Arbeau’s branles aredistinguished by circles of couples who always begin by stepping sideways tothe left; they are danced to tunes in duple, triple, and mixed meters, withregular and irregular phrases and are noted for their repeated patterns offootwork.

Galliard.

Recognized as the most virtuosic dance type of the late Renaissance era,the galliard was a dance for most active and athletic dancers. Performed intriple meter, the galliard’s step pattern consists of five jumped changes ofweight in six beats to a measure. Principal step is a hopping pattern of 5steps done in 6 beats of music. The mood is bright and energetic, and the danceis often a vehicle for the man to display his virtuosity.

Bassadanza (Bassedanse)

A dance of 2 beats to a measure. Characteristically serious, glidingalong with the feet close to the floor. An important dance in the Burgundiancourts, 1450-1480. Most Italian bassadanza have a good deal of variety. In thesame period, the French basse danse was done only by couples or trios, wasprocessional, and had a fixed order of steps.

Saltarello

A dance of 3 beats to a measure. The term goes back to the fourteenthcentury and typically followed a bassadanza, but there are no choreographiesrecorded until the sixteenth century. This dance also has no identifiable steppattern, though the root word is saltare, to jump. The mood is sprightly.

Pavan

Described as a processional and slow dance, the pavan was danced by “walkingwith decorum and measured gravity.“ 

The dance, as described by Arbeau,consists of two single steps (simple) and one double step (double), forward, orbackward; and, when the “hall is so thronged with a multitude ofguests,” one can make a conversion  to reverse direction. The name derives mostlikely from the city name of Padua, not from the word pavone (peacock), but thedance certainly employs pavoneggiare, the stylish swagger that shows off rank,wealth, and power.

Italian manuals

The late sixteenth-century Italian manuals are noted for their enhanceddetail regarding ballroom etiquette and the increasingly difficult stepvocabulary that includes descriptions of jumps and turns. Most of the dancesare social, choreographed for one couple. The majority of these dances (calledballi or balletti) usually begin in duple meter and change to a triple meter;some have up to four changes of meter. The step patterns for the dances aresymmetrical and the floor patterns are strictly geometrical.

Passo e mezzo

A dance of 2 beats to a measure. Early Dance historian Julia Suttontells us that, though the term means “step and a half,” there is no availabledescription of a distinct step pattern for this dance. And all the examples wehave are “elaborated variants of the pavan.”

Canario

A dance of 3 or 6 beats to a measure. Has unique stamping movements. Isbelieved to have come from the Canary Islands off the coast of then-SpanishSahara. Castanets are sometimes used in this dance.

Source:

Renaissance dance (the link is here)

Catherine Sim, Renaissance Court Dance in Italy and France (the link is here)

[malipstick]

William Byrd (1543-1623) (English)

La Volta