Renaissance dances belong to the broad group of
historical dances. During the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
period, there was a distinction between
country dances and court dances. Court dances required the dancers to be trained and were often for display and entertainment, whereas country dances could be attempted by anyone. At Court, the formal entertainment would often be followed by many hours of country dances which all present could join in. Dances described as country dances such as Chiarantana or Chiaranzana remained popular over a long period – over two centuries in the case of this dance. A Renaissance dance can be likened to a ball.
Knowledge of court dances has survived better than that of country dances as they were collected by dancing masters in manuscripts and later in printed books. The earliest surviving manuscripts that provide detailed dance instructions are from 15th century Italy. The earliest printed dance manuals come from late 16th century France and Italy. The earliest dance descriptions in England come from the Gresley manuscript, 1500, found in the Derbyshire Record Office, D77 B0x 38 pp 51–79. These have been recently published as "Cherwell Thy Wyne (Show your joy): Dances of fifteenth-century England from the Gresley manuscript". The first printed English source appeared in 1651, the
first edition
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants.
First edition
According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...
of
Playford.
The dances in these manuals are extremely varied in nature. They range from slow, stately "processional" dances (
bassadance
The ''basse danse'', or "low dance", was a popular court dance in the 15th and early 16th centuries, especially at the Burgundian court. The word ''basse'' describes the nature of the dance, in which partners move quietly and gracefully in a s ...
,
pavane
The ''pavane'' ( ; it, pavana, ''padovana''; german: Paduana) is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century (Renaissance).
The pavane, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci ...
,
almain) to fast, lively dances (
galliard,
coranto,
canario). The former, in which the dancers' feet were not raised high off the floor were styled the ''dance basse'' while energetic dances with leaps and
lifts were called the ''haute dance''.
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
Eli ...
enjoyed galliards, and ''la spagnoletta'' was a court favourite.
Some were choreographed, others were improvised on the spot. One dance for couples, a form of the galliard called
volta
Volta may refer to:
Persons
* Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), Italian physicist and inventor of the electric battery, count and eponym of the volt
* Giovanni Volta (1928–2012), Italian Roman Catholic bishop
* Giovanni Serafino Volta (1764–184 ...
, involved a rather intimate hold between the man and woman, with the woman being lifted into the air while the couple made a turn. Other dances, such as
branle
A branle (, ), also bransle, brangle, brawl, brawle, brall(e), braul(e), brando (in Italy), bran (in Spain), or brantle (in Scotland), is a type of French dance popular from the early 16th century to the present, danced by couples in either a ...
s or bransles, were danced by many people in a circle or line.
Fifteenth-century Italian dance
Our knowledge of 15th-century Italian dances comes mainly from the surviving works of three Italian dance masters:
Domenico da Piacenza,
Antonio Cornazzano and
Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro. Their work deals with similar steps and dances, though some evolution can be seen. The main types of dances described are
bassa danza and ''balletto''. These are the earliest European dances to be well-documented, as we have a reasonable knowledge of the choreographies, steps and music used.
Gallery
References
Sources
*
*
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*
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External links
www.earlydancecircle.co.ukThe Renaissance Dance Homepage
*
* ttp://www.early-dance.de/taxonomy/term/6 Renaissance Dance Eventslisted at the Calendar of Early-Dance
Official website
Modern performance
Many groups exist that recreate historical music and dance from the Renaissance period
The Early Dance Circle
is an umbrella group for early dance in the UK
Renaissance Footnotes, a UK dance group recreating dances of the renaissance
{{Renaissance navbox
History of dance
Dance
European court festivities