If you know some dances that I don't have, or you have more source
information, or if I have any errors, or if I am missing important variations
in how things are danced, please let me know. My email address is: gl8f@virginia.edu.
Thanks to those who have contributed:
Gretchen Miller <grm+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Dani of the Seven Wells <dani@telerama.com>
(Gretchen and Dani wrote the "Draft Dance Notes" for the College of Cour
d'Or, which I have used extensively.)
The Dance Steps
Sources (a tiny bibliography)
Other Electronic Resources
For a copy of the music, contact:
Kristina Eloisa Pereyra (Lady Phaedria d'Aurillac)
706A Liberty Street
El Cerrito, CA 94530
Email kristina@uclink.berkeley.edu
(especially if you know a dance she's missing!)
A discography
of commercial recordings of most of these dances is available.
In general, one always starts on one's left foot.
Bransles
A bransle single is a step to the left with the left foot, and
then move the right foot to join the left. A bransle double is
two singles in a row. Occasionally doubles are danced with embellishments:
step-together-step-kick.
Coranto
Coranto singles and doubles aren't understood very well, but they were
definitely very athletic. Andrew Draskoy suggests this as a low-impact
version:
Single left: Leap forward onto left foot, then hop bringing your right
foot together with your left.
Double left: Leap forward onto left, forward onto right, forward onto
left, in place bringing your right foot together with your left.
If you're feeling athletic, you move twice as much: Add in a hop in
place before each leap or hop above.
Galliards
The basic galliard step is the Cinque Passi, which takes 6 beats
and is danced to the rhythm of the first phrase of ``My country 'tis of
thee.'' Start with left foot slightly in front of the right:
kick right
kick left
kick right
kick left
jump into the air, landing with the right foot slightly in front
The last bit is called a cadence, and leaves you ready to start
again but with the left first going first. You may stand still, move
slowly around the room, or turn in place using this step.
A great site on Renaissance Dance
provides more information.
Primary Sources
Arbeau, Thoinot. Orchesography (1589 and 1596). In French. Available in
a variety of facsimile editions.
Caroso, Marco Fabritio. Il Ballarino (1581). In Italian.
Caroso, Marco Fabritio. Nobilta Di Dame (1600). In Italian. A refinement
of Il Ballarino.
Ebreo. 1470 and later. A variety of translations and manuscripts available,
including an on-line version of Ebreo's
bassa danza instructions, and his
ballo instructions.
Lutij.
Negri, Cesare. Le Gratie D'amore (1602 and 1604). In Italian.
Secondary Sources
Thomas, Bernard and Gingell, Jane. The Renaissance Dance Book: Dances
from the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries. London: London Pro
Musica 1987.
Waks, Mark (ed.) The
Letter of Dance. Available from the Editor at: Mark Waks, 82 Montclair
Ave., Waltham MA 02154 USA, justin@inmet.camb.inmet.com.
The Elizabethan Handbook.
A comprehensive
annotated bibliography exists, and there is an archive
of all the messages on the Renaissance Dance mailing list. If you would
like to join this mailing list, send email to listserver@morgan.ucs.mun.ca
with the following line in the body of the message:
subscribe rendance Greg Lindahl
substituting your own name.
Renaissance Dance Videos
Il Balarino: The Art of Renaissance Dance, 1990, directed by Julia Sutton
and Johannes Holub, narrarated by Julia Sutton. Dance Horizons Video,
Princeton Book Company, PO Box 57, Pennington, NJ 08534. Videocassette
(VHS), 33min. ISBN 0-87127-170-2, $39.95. Only Italian dances.
Le Gratie d'amore, European Court Dance of the Late Renaissance, Filmocentro;
Taller de Danzas Antiguas, y Charles Garth y Elizabeth Aldrich. New
York: Historical Dance Foundation, 1992 (spanish with english subtitles).
HDF's phone steps.html# is (212) 255-5545. Includes pavannes, bransles,
galliards, and ballos.
- A comprehensive annotated bibliography
-
ftp://bransle.ucs.mun.ca/pub/rendance/biblio/rbib.txt.gz
- The Letter of Dance Online Archive --- might change, as it's still
under construction
- http://www.inmet.com/~justin/dletter/top.html
- The Rendance mailing list archive
- ftp://bransle.ucs.mun.ca/pub/rendance/
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