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Renaissance Boogie: Dancing in Early Modern Europe

Written by Iver P. Cooper

Soon after the Ring of Fire, the residents of Grantville will discover that dancing was far more important in seventeenth century European society than it was in twentieth century America.

In The Courtier (1561), Castiglione recounts an anecdote about a noblewoman who asked a knight to dance with her. He refused, saying that dancing was not part of his profession, which was to fight. She sweetly suggested that since the country was at peace, he should be stored in an armory with other implements of war, suitably oiled so that he didn't rust.

A century later, in issuing a patent to his new Academie Royale de Danse, Louis XIV declared that dance is "one of the arts most useful to our nobility, not only in time of war, in our armies, but in time of peace as well, in the divertissements of our ballets."

The attitude that dance was an essential social skill was not limited to the nobility. In England, the professionals and their wives had to be able to dance, too. In 1631, a Middle Temple bencher warned that it was "accounted a shame for any Inns of Court man not to have learned to dance, especially the measures". (Durham) Guildsmen might be required to do a ritualized "guild dance" on a particular day of the year, and it is evident from period paintings that peasants enjoyed folk dances.

So the up-timers—especially those who take up positions outside Grantville—are going to have to learn the down-timers' dances. My story "Two Left Feet" (Grantville Gazette 27) was driven by the conceit that Mike Stearns would be expected to dance in 1635 at the new prime minister's inaugural ball . . . and wouldn't like the idea one bit.

Of course, the down-timers visiting Grantville are going to be exposed to up-time dances, possibly including square dancing, contra dancing (more on that later), Appalachian clogging, modern ballet, and ballroom dancing (including tango, waltz, polka, etc.) and swing dancing.

Bear in mind that the exposure is not limited to the dances that the up-timers presently do; there will be dance scenes in the movies shown to the down-timers.

Kerryn Offord has written several stories ("A Night at the Ballet," 1634: TheRam Rebellion; " A Falcon Falls," Grantville Gazette 13) which relate to the creation and activity of a ballet company in Grantville (the company later moves to Magdeburg), and in my "Federico and Ginger," an Italian dancing master studies Fred Astaire and creates, with the aid of the cheerleaders at the high school and his star pupil (Princess Kristina of Sweden), a dance extravaganza celebrating Gustavus Adolphus' rule, with both up-time and down-time dance elements.

In this article, I will first discuss the social context of Renaissance dancing (especially early-seventeenth century dancing), and then describe the dances (especially court dances) of our period.

 

Social Context

Dancing is not an isolated phenomenon, it's a part of the participants' culture. Cultural rules dictate when and where dancing occurs, and who participates.

When? Particular dances may be performed at select moments in the life cycle (birth, baptism, birthdays, puberty, marriage, death) of the dancer or the dancer's relatives and associates. Others are governed by the calendar; they are done every Sunday, or in recognition of the season (arrival of spring, midsummer or midwinter, or harvest time, or the movement of the herds to downhill or uphill pastures), or on a "recruitment day" or "market day." Or they may be sporadic, preceding or following cooperative work.

In rural Germany, in particular, "the occasions for dancing and entertainment included Carnival, Easter, ember days, sowing, the driving out of the cattle, May Day, the feasts of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Martin, the anniversary of the local church's dedication, and the winter solstice." (Ency.)

Where? Dances may be done outdoors or indoors. If outdoors, it might happen anywhere that is reasonably flat and wide (a courtyard, a field), or only in a place specially designated for dancing. If indoors, the dance may be held in a "private"(think of a Harlem rent party) or "public" (a dance hall, a temple, a threshing floor) place. Dancing indoors has its hazards; in 1284 at Nefyn, the floor collapsed (Med Eng 31).

By Whom? The right to do particular dances, or to dance at all, may be limited according to gender, age, marital status, heredity, occupation, social class, or selection by initiates. There are:

—ritual dances such as the English Morris dance or Romanian Calusarii;

—occupational dances performed by members of town guilds (there is a memorable image of German sausage makers parading a very long link of sausages down "main street", and I have photographed the dance of the barrelmakers in Erdobenye, Hungary) or by herdsmen (such as Hungarian swineherds);

—court dances done by members of the nobility; and

—country dances that are essentially all-inclusive.

In eastern Europe there are villages where only the men danced, or only the women danced. Even when the women danced, there was room for variation: only unmarried women danced; married women danced but only with their husbands; and married women danced but never with their husbands (if her husband asked her to dance, it would be declaring that the wife was such a bad dancer that no one else would dance with her).

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In the Renaissance, the church attitude toward dancing was rather ambivalent. On the one hand, there was an association between dancing and paganism, traceable back to the dancing of the idolaters (Exodus 32:6). On the other hand, there were some favorable references to dancing in the Bible; David dancing "before the Lord" when the Ark of the Covenant was recovered, and Miriam celebrating the parting of the Red Sea.

In some places and times, there was a prohibition on dancing on holy days or in churches. On the other hand, village priests were known to lead dances, even in church. Some churchmen opposed dance only when it was associated with licentious behavior, rather than decrying dancing per se. Overall, the Catholics were more tolerant of dancing than were the Protestants.

Court Dancing

In the movie The King's Speech, the stutter-prone George VI (Colin Firth) complains that the need to give radio speeches has forced the royals into the lowest class of society: performers. But in the seventeenth century, royalty, nobility and gentry were eager to perform—provided they did so indoors, and for their peers. (Smith).

Italy

In the sixteenth century, the Italians were the trendsetters in dance. Their dances included both processional dances like the pavane, and faster "after dances" (gagliarda, saltarello, canario). Sometimes several dances were combined into a virtuoso figure dance suite, the balli or balleto. These suites were rehearsed in advance by a small ensemble of nobles (possibly including some professional "ringers"), and performed for an audience in chambers of noblewomen, or at balls.

In Italy, the old knightly tournaments evolved into the staged tournoi a theme, and ultimately into the horse ballet: riders guided their mounts through dance patterns (Strong 54ff). One such spectacle was featured in Agnioli Ricci's 1637 Le Nozze degli Dei, which honored the wedding of Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (and a character in my stories "Under the Tuscan Son" and "Arsenic and Old Italians").

The court dances were also adapted by theatrical troupes, who would present snippets to liven up a play. These troupes traveled outside Italy and helped to engender interest in Italian dance. Italian dancing masters and their pupils also fanned out across Europe.

France

By the mid-seventeenth century, Paris had eclipsed the various Italian cities as the capital of dance (Nevile 22). In France, the nobility began their formal public life at age ten, and dancing was an expected skill. Woe betide those who did not master it, or worse, merely thought they had:

"A son of Montbron . . . had been asked if he danced well; and he had replied with a confidence which made every one hope that the contrary was the case. Every one was satisfied. From the first bow, he became confused, and he lost step at once. He tried to divert attention from his mistake by affected attitudes, and carrying his arms high; but this made him only more ridiculous, and excited bursts of laughter, which, in despite of the respect due to the personage of the King (who likewise had great difficulty to hinder himself from laughing), degenerated at length into regular hooting. On the morrow, instead of flying from the Court or holding his tongue, he excused himself by saying that the presence of the King had disconcerted him, and promised marvels for the ball which was to follow . . . As soon as he began to dance at the second ball, those who were near stood up, those who were far off climbed wherever they could to get a sight; and the shouts of laughter were mingled with clapping of hands . . . Montbron disappeared immediately afterwards, and did not show himself again for a long time." (Hilton 15-16)

In France, there were court balls every week; they began with an obeisance to the king. then couples danced for the whole court, one at a time (danse a deux), in order of social rank (Hilton 3). A dance a deux is pictured in Abraham Bosse, The Ball (1635).

While the social dancing at a royal ball had its performance aspects, the ballet de cour created by Catherine de Medici and Balthazar de Beaujoyeaux was longer and more heavily choreographed, with an eye toward the spectacular. The French kings recognized the propaganda value of the court ballet, which dramatized both the splendor of the king and his power against evil. Some of the ballets used elaborate stage machinery from Italy.

In my story "Federico and Ginger" (Grantville Gazette 4), Federico's grand spectacle is inspired by La Ballet de la Nuit (1653), which had 45 entrees in four parts ending with a traditional grand ballet with 22 dancers (a mixture of nobles and professionals). The individual dances (entrees) were probably around two or three minutes long. Le Balet Comique de la Royne (1581) lasted five hours. The ballets had both noble and burlesque elements, analogous to English masque and anti-masque (see below).

The court ballets were performed at Carnival and on other occasions. Each year, courtiers learned two to four new dances; they needed to have twelve dances in their repertoire, and roles were awarded on the basis of technical merit. (Hilton).

Professionals (from the theater) were used if the role was beneath the dignity of a noble or required proficiency beyond that of the available aristocrats. Actresses could partner with noblemen, but it was more awkward for an actor to dance with a lady of the court. The first documented professional dance troupe was that of Horace Morel, who presented Le Ballet de l'Harmonie Universelle and La Ballet des Effets de la Nature in 1632.

Louis XIV performed from 1647 (age 8) until 1670 . . . typically several times a week! He took lessons daily, loved both comic and female (played in drag) roles (the king didn't have to worry about dignity), and danced in seven different ballets in 1656.

While the Sun King was an avid dancer, some of the other noblemen didn't share his enthusiasm. The Royal Academy was founded in 1661, essentially to supply professionals for the ballets. When Louis XIV retired from dancing, there was a mass exodus of courtiers from the ballet de cour. The Royal Academy became a professional company, with few if any of the nobility, but the stage dances were adapted for ballroom use.

Dances were also a part of the higher educational system. Every year, in early August, as part of award ceremonies, the rhetoric students at secondary schools would present ballets de college. A performance might also be given in honor of a king's visit, or a royal birth, coronation, or marriage. The subjects were usually allegorical (e.g. the seasons, a chess game). The costs of production were covered by fund-raising, subsidies, gifts, and sometimes admission fees; actors might furnish their own costume. Guest ballet masters choreographed the production and taught the students; they might also dance the most difficult roles. The performance might be in the hall or courtyard of the college with tent set up, or in nearby castle; it would be announced by drummers or posted programs. A single performance might have audience of 4000 people, including of course parents, friends and local dignitaries.

England

The English court dances were imported from France; the English contribution to Renaissance dance took the form of jigs, hornpipes, and, most of all, country dance. I will discuss those in the "Folk Dancing" section of this article.

The court dances were done, not only by the nobility, but also by the gentry. The Inns of Court were where the bright young Englishmen went to study law. They weren't law schools in a modern sense; rather they were more like private clubs for lawyers, with both offices and dining facilities. The lawyers taught the students on what was probably a fairly informal basis, more like a modern internship.

The Inns of Court regularly hosted revels (at one time, every Saturday between All Saint's Eve and Candlemas) and the members were expected to participate. Indeed, William Dugsdale (1666) says that the "Under Barristers" were punished for having failed to dance the last Candlemas Day and were warned that if they offended again, "they should be fined or disbarred." (Durham).

To learn the dances, the neophytes hired private tutors or attended dancing schools. We know that in 1594, William Fitzwilliam of Gray's Inn "paid almost as much for a month's dancing lessons as for his commons (meals)." Another source says that in 1595, a month's dancing lessons cost five shillings.

It appears that as many as thirty couples might be dancing at one time, so clearly the Inns of Court revels didn't ape the French custom of hierarchical danse a deux (except perhaps when they had noble or royal guests).

In England, masques were a principal entertainment for the court, and were commissioned by the king, the queen, or nobles or lawyers seeking to impress them. Those with royal sponsorship were held at Whitehall, the royal banqueting hall, and there would be perhaps 600 members of the aristocracy in attendance. Masques were also held at the Inns of Court or at the country manors of great magnates.

I will describe the masque in the mature form it achieved during the reigns of James I and Charles I. Please note that even then there could be variations on the basic structure.

The masques began with some kind of introductory song or speech that explained what the performance was about. (Note that these were known more for their elaborate costumes, scenery and stage machinery than for the complexity, subtlety or provocativeness of their plots.)

Then came the anti-masque, a comic or grotesque dance representing the order of chaos. By way of example, the anti-masquers were witches in The Masque of Queens (1609), satyrs in Oberon (1611), and "frantics" (characters in the commedia della arte tradition) in The Lord's Masque (1613).

These would be driven out by the entry dance of the forces of order, the masquers; these might portray gods and goddesses, legendary heroes, exotic princes, knights of King Arthur's Court, soldiers of Imperial Rome, and so forth.

After performing their main dance, the masquers invited members of the audience to join them in the revel. After an hour or so (Ency. GB 252), the invitees returned to their seats, the masquers performed their final speeches or songs and their withdrawing dance, and this might be followed by some sort of royal reception or banquet.

The masquers, usually 6–12 in number, were lords or ladies, occasionally both at the same time. There are a few productions with a double entry, one of male masquers and the other of female. Lady masquers wore low cut bodice or gauzed breasts, with skirts shortened to the calf. Male masquers sometimes were called upon to dance "in travesty," that is, playing female roles.

Children were first used as torchbearers, but they could also do comic or grotesque dancing, as in an anti-masque (Jonson 1608). Otherwise, the anti-masquers were all male professionals.

Henrietta Maria moved revels from mid-performance to the end of the program in 1631. The invitations followed rules of precedence; that is, the principal masquer invited the principal audience member of the opposite sex to dance, and the performers worked their way "down the ladder." Only audience members seated up front were asked to dance; their choice of seating implied a willingness to cooperate.

The revels would begin with" measures," escalate to galliards, corantos, and canaries, and close with branles and country dances (see below).

A masque was usually performed just once, in a royal banqueting hall or similarly august setting, but there's some evidence for a "running masque" that moved from home to home.

Scotland

The Complaint of Scotland (1543) lists a variety of court dances, including pavans, galliards, turdions and branles. Indeed, an earlier source (The Fader, 1500) mentions the "brawll of France" and the "new paven of France". (Machaffie)

Germany and Austria

In the 1630s, Germany was something of a backwater for court dancing; the centers of innovation were elsewhere. The Germans learned court dancing by both direct (lessons with resident dance masters) and indirect (from visitors or while traveling) means.

In the early eighteenth century, the dance masters at the German courts were primarily French (Little 9); I suspect that in the early seventeenth century, they would have been mostly French or Italian. Their status was on par with that of a doctor, lawyer, fencing master or tennis master.

The seventeenth-century Germans would also have seen theatrical performances, with dance elements, by traveling French, Italian and English troupes. And German noblemen did go on the Grand Tour, and bring back foreign dances.

Even if the Germans weren't innovators, they were certainly eager to dance. Dance houses were built as venues for balls, which could be sponsored by noblemen or merchants. These predate the RoF; a multilevel Bread-and-Dance House was built in Nordlingen in 1444; there were bakers' shops on the ground floor and the dance floor above. Ball dancing could be in regular dress or in costume, and the sponsor was considered the "King of the Ball" (and his spouse, the "Queen"). (Nevile 11) Since the balls were for the benefit of the nobility or for those seeking entry to noble circles, I suspect that court dances dominated. However, it is possible that some folk dances crept in, especially late in the evening.

There were also court ballet performances in the French tradition. In the early seventeenth century court ballets at Stuttgart, only men danced, taking on female as well as male roles. On the other hand, in Dessau in 1614, noblewomen were allowed to perform. (Nevile 61)

A detailed description is available of a masque performed in Stuttgart in 1616. This featured four giant heads, from each of which dancers representing three different nations emerged. The dancing included "a galliard after the English manner" and a Frenchman dancing a coranto. (Brandt 32). I must wonder about the accuracy of the statement in the Dance Encyclopedia that "German courts did not develop the spectacular dance pageants or masques that were a feature of the Italian, French and English courts of this period."

The students at the German gymnasiums (loosely comparable to an American prep school) gave dramatic performances that could include dance numbers. (This can be likened to the French ballet de college.)

Albrecht Durer created a woodcut, The Masquerade Dance with Torches for Freydal (1517-18), a faux medieval epic honoring the Emperor Maximilian I. The outfits of the dancers are clearly courtly. It is unclear whether it represented an authentic court dance or was purely a work of the imagination. But torch and lantern dances were part of some guild presentations. (Ency.)

Turning to Austria, there was theatrical dancing in the school plays of the Jesuits and in court festivities. At court, Italian teachers dominated; Carlo Beccharia at the court of Rudolph II (1576-1612), and Santo Ventura, at least from 1626, had Ferdinand II (1619-1637) as his patron.

There was both court dancing and a horse ballet at Ferdinand's marriage to Maria Anna in 1631.

Denmark

During the reign of Frederick II, there were visits by English theatrical troupes. By the 1630s, the Danish royal court had enjoyed the benefit of two French dancing masters, first Jacques Freville (1615-1623) (Wade 84) and then Alexander von Kuckelsom. In October 1634, Kuckelsom presented a court ballet in honor of the marriage of Prince Christian to Princess Magdalena Sibylla of Saxony. (Has this marriage been butterflied away?) The king played Neptune, the crown prince was his son, and the bride debuted as Pallas Athena. (Marker, 32).

It's interesting that the Danish king, an avid Protestant, tolerated the presence of a Roman Catholic dancing master. Jacques Freville, by the way, was more than a dancing master. He was an agent of the Dominican Fathers . . . and Danish spies were well aware of his activities. (Garstein 95).

Sweden

There apparently was no court dancing in Sweden at the time of RoF; Gustavus Adolphus was perhaps more interested in the "dancing place of Mars," the battlefield. In 1636-8 (the sources disagree), Antoine de Bealieau, a French dancing master, came to Stockholm under royal patronage (Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna and the underage Queen Christina), and introduced ballet de cour. (Strong 59). His first production was Le Ballet des Plaisirs de la Vie des Enfants sans soucy (January 28, 1638).

Out of thirteen documented court ballets, five were for royal birthdays, three for noble weddings, one for Christina's coronation, and one celebrated the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War. Twelve of the thirteen texts indicate that they were performed in Christina's presence. (Bohlin). These ballets all ended with a Grand Ballet and Queen Christina took part in at least that of Les liberalitez des Dieux (1652). She also is known to have played the part of Diana (Artemis) in Le Vaicu de Diane (1649). Bohlin speculates that she might have also played Pallas Athena (Minerva) in La Maissance de la Paix, a propaganda piece that portrayed her as the Pallas of the North, just as her father had been the Jupiter of the North.

Netherlands

In other European countries, such as France and England, folk dancing influenced court dancing, and vice versa. However, the Dutch nobility essentially ignored their own folk heritage, drawing their court dances from French and to a lesser degree Italian sources.

In addition, the court dancing was more a social than a performance art. The only documented full-length court ballet of the seventeenth century was Ballet de la Paix (1668), with Prince William III of Orange dancing multiple roles. There were some instances in the second half of the century of ballets being performed before or after a drama.

Poland

Court dances, presumably Italian in character, were performed at the 1518 wedding of Bona Sforza of Milan to King Zygmunt (Sigismund) I. (Ency.)

Ambrosio Bontempo was an Italian dancing master active at the Graz court 1586–1623/5.

King Zygmunt III married Archduchess Anna of Austria in 1592 and Bontempo was involved in this celebration (Przybyszewska-Jarminska). However, I have no particulars.

In 1637–8, another Italian dancing master, Santi Ventura, created a ballet as part of the Austrian contribution to the celebration of the wedding of Wladyslaw IV to Princess Cecilia Renata in September 1637 (Przybyszewska-Jarminska). That is, by the way, the desperately unhappy marriage that is "butterflied away" in Flint, 1634: The Bavarian Crisis, Chap. 64.

The first home-grown court dance may have been the polonez (polonaise), which is said to have itself evolved from Polish folk dances, possibly the chodzony, wolny or wielki (Randel 668). Silverman (142) quotes a legend (her words) that "it was first used by nobleman at the ascension of Henri III to the throne of Poland" in 1573 (or when he arrived in Poland in 1574, according to some sources.) The legend is discounted by Niecks (268) and others. A further complication is that the term "Polonaise" was used in France for music or dance that seemed Polish in character (like the use of "Allemande" for Germany-seeming pieces)(Little 194).

In 1645, a French writer declared, "I know of no dance in which so much loveliness, dignity and charm are united as in the polonaise. It is the only dance which becomes exalted persons and monarchs and which is suited to courtly dress. . . ." (Sachs 424). It eventually became the opening dance for a Polish ball.

However, I collected vague, third-hand references to other dances done at court as early as the sixteenth century: "first the ladies danced, carrying garlands and moving in twos, one pair behind the other; next young men danced, also grouped in twos; then the men approached the women to partner them in processional dances." (Ency.) Those processional dances, of course, may have included the precursor to the Polonaise.

Spain

In 1594, Lope de Vega's comedia El Maestro de Danzar said that dancing "makes the ugly beautiful, and the beautiful even more perfect." (Esses 518). "Under Philip IV, from 1621 to 1665, dance and courtly behavior were so important as to form almost a religious code." (Ency. 668). Even a century later, Bartolomeo Ferriol y Boxeraus' Reglas utiles para los aficionados a danzar (1745) declared the skill of dancing to be "an emblem of the man of court" (Esses 519).

There is only one surviving dance treatise from Spain (Navarro, 1642), so it's difficult to form a clear picture of Spanish court dancing. Negri's 1602 treatise was translated into Spanish in 1630; in general, there was a strong Italian influence on court dancing in Castile and Andalusia. (Ency.)

The court entertainments that featured some sort of dancing included the sarao and the mascara. The sarao was "a gathering of respected persons of high social station in order to enjoy instrumental music and courtly dances." (De Murcia 96); it was essentially a dance suite, without a strong dramatic thread, performed for a small audience. The mascara required the dancers to portray particular characters, and had some semblance of a plot.

Perhaps the most unusual feature of Spanish court dance culture was the "dancing duel" (reto) described by Esquivel Navarro (1642). The offended dancer went to the offender's dance studio, requested that the alta (the standard opening dance) be played, and as he danced it, he proclaimed, "I challenge and dare so-and-so, a pupil of so-and so, to dance four mudancas of the pavana, six passeos of the gallards, two mudancas of the folias, two of the rey, and two of the villano, chacona, canario and rastro, to the sound of good accompaniment, to see who does more and who looks better." (Esses 521). The challenger had to put his money where his mouth was, depositing a stake with the senor maestro whose studio was to be the venue for the duel. (Half the stake to go to the victor, and the remainder to the musicians). And the challenger even had to name seconds!

To accept the duel, the challenged also had to dance the alta and declare (hat off), "It has come my attention that so-and-so . . . has challenged me to dance." He then put his hat back on as arrogantly as possible (which for a Spanish nobleman, was arrogant indeed) and formally accepted the challenge, including making a matching deposit and naming his own seconds.

In 1637, Esquivel himself issued one of these challenges; he was a Madrileno who had just arrived in Seville, and one of the maestros of the escuela he had visited had "criticized his dancing behind his back." Esquivel issued a general challenge to all comers, and no one showed up for the duel. This in turn validated the dancing style Esquivel had learned from his master, Antonio de Almenda. (Esses 521).

Descriptions of Particular Court Dances

Sources

Our principal sources for early seventeenth century court dance figures are the manuals written by various dancing masters. While we have perhaps a dozen of these from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there are problems working with them. First, they make assumptions, such as that the reader already knows the basic steps, or at least the character of the movements (how high you lift your leg, for example). Secondly, they don't necessarily clearly indicate the timing of the movements. Finally, the fact that a treatise was written in 1600 doesn't mean that it actually reflects what was still being done in 1600; the writer's heyday as a dancer might have been a quarter-century earlier.

If all we have is a reference to the dance by name, without any description—in a diary or chronicle, perhaps—then we have no way of knowing whether the dance being done then is in fact identical or even similar to the dance of the same name done at an earlier or later time.

If the reference to the dance is in the name of a piece of music—as the name of a movement, perhaps—then we don't know whether the dance was in fact being done then. The music could have come before the dance, or the dance could have died out but music was still being written for it.

Dance Technique

The effect of costume on dance technique cannot be overestimated. Clothes can constrict what parts of the body can move where and the overall weight of one's outfit has an effect on stamina.

Costumes varied, of course, by time, place and social class, but as a reasonable example of what one would have to put up with in the course of seventeenth century court dancing, visualize the men wearing starched ruff, doublet, breeches, boots, hat, sword, and cape, and the woman either a corseted bodice and double skirt, or a corseted gown. The ruff and corset imprisoned the head and torso, so the ladies' garb forced reliance on intricate and rapid footwork.

http://laracorsets.com/History_of_the_corset_03_17thCentury.htm

Modern ballet is marked by a pronounced turnout of the toes. We know from paintings and dance manuals that in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the Italians used parallel feet or slight turnout. Caroso said that it was "most ugly to point one foot south and the other north, as if the feet were deformed."

In France, Arbeau said that the amount of turnout was at the discretion of the dancer, but should not be more than a right angle. He warned that it should be less for the man as it imparted a feminine look. But by 1637, more turnout was favored; De Lauze urged "toes well outward" to facilitate movements from the hip.

The appearance of shoes with heels (long known in Asia) in the 1570s no doubt encouraged the stamping sequences of the canary.

The entrechat, a rapid crossing and re-crossing of the legs before and behind while in the air, was known in our period; a picture from 1637 shows one (Sachs 121), and Arbeau (1589) describes an early form (the capriole).

The principal couple hold was hand in hand, but there were definitely peasant dances which featured the closer hold with hands on shoulders or shoulder blades—See, in Theodore de Bry (1528-98)'s Peasants Dance the second-to-last couple, and in his Court Dance, the first couple (in turning position, with hands on waist and shoulder)(Sachs Plate 24).

"Aerials"—figures in which the man lifted his partner—appeared in a few dances, and of course required a strong connection. In Branle Official (Arbeau 1589), the man lifted his partner by the waist, In Lavolta (Arbeau 1589), he put one hand under her busk and the other around her waist. There is also a lift in the balleto La Nizzarda (Negri 1602).

Branles (Brawls, Brandi)

In Love's Labor Lost, Armando's page says "Master, will you please win your love with a French brawl." The French dancing master Arbeau says that it evolved from French folk dances. However, its roots may be deeper; the branle simple has the hora pattern (two steps in one direction, one in the other) that is found all over Europe.

Of course, the spirit of one-upmanship inherent in court dancing guaranteed that more complicated branles would be devised. John Marston, The Malcontent (1604) Act IV makes fun of complex "brawl" dance patterns (and the description seems like Arbeau's Branle de Malte):

Aurelia (Duchess): We have forgot the brawl.

Ferrardo (Duke's minion): So soon? 'Tis wonder.

Guerrino (courtier). Why? 'Tis but two singles on the left, two on the right, three doubles forward, a traverse of six round; do this twice, three singles side, galliard trick of twenty, coranto-pace, a figure of eight, three singles broken, down, come up, meet, two doubles, fall back, and then honor.

Aur: O Daedalus, thy maze! I have quite forgot it.

Maquerelle (guarding the duchess' door from interruption): Trust me, so have I, saving the falling back and then honour.

When you consider how quickly modern dances go out of favor, the longevity of the branle is amazing. Isabelle d'Este and Anna Sforza danced French country dances, which perhaps were branles, in 1491 (Sachs 111). According to Antonius de Arena, by 1528, three types were done at balls. (Ency 522). Milanese royalty danced a brandi for 8 in 1574; 82 dancers enjoyed a brandi in 1594. Arbeau's 1589 dance treatise (Orchesography) sets forth steps for 24 branles, and there are many branles in de Lauze's 1623 monograph. Six types are mentioned by Mersennes (yes, the mathematician!) in 1636.

In the reigns of French kings from Francis I to Louis XIV, the French ball began with series of branles. Mersenne (1636), for example, describes a suite comprising five branles and a gavotte. (Sachs 385).

However, by the mid-seventeenth century, the branle was fading in popularity. In 1642, in Spain it was an old dance that dance masters had to know but which wasn't actually danced. Still, Pepys saw branles at a court ball in 1666 (Sachs 124), and it was still identified as the first dance of the ball in Rameau (1725).

The branle was a group dance, done as a chain or circle. Arbeau (1589) says that it was done by "as many young men as do damsels," implying that men and women alternated, and elsewhere indicates that the lady is on the right. It appears that it was permissible for the more energetic dancers to "ornament" the figures, putting in little springs on their steps, or substituting a triple-scissor for a step-close. Some of the branles feature miming movements—beating the washing like a washerwoman, or pawing the ground like a horse.

Pavane

There are two theories about the name of this dance. One is that it is from "padovana" or "paduana," meaning a dance from Padua. The other is that it's from "pavone," peacock, and I confess that I find the second explanation more appealing.

The pavane is a slow processional couple dance which is more about showing off how elegantly the dancers are dressed than how "musical" or "agile" they are. It may perhaps be compared with the nineteenth-century ballroom form of the Polonaise (another walking dance), with wedding and graduation processions, or even with modern "voguing." It was often done as part of a suite, in which case it was usually followed by a saltarello or galliard.

One common figure, shorn of ornamentation, combines two "singles" (step-close, step-close) and a "double" (step-step-step-close), totaling eight counts. This can be done forward, backward, or turning ("conversion"). In converting, the woman always travels forward (probably to avoid "wardrobe malfunction"). Other combinations of singles and doubles are possible.

The dance is mentioned in Dalza's Intabolatura di Lauto (Venice 1508). The combination of forward and backward movement existed by 1520 because that's when Giovanni Andrea da Prato wryly admitted that his writing style had this in common with the pavane. In 1589, Arbeau said that the pavane is a grand processional for royalty and great nobility on a feast day, or for the entry of a god, goddess, emperor or king in a masque, or to open a grand ball. It's mentioned by Mersennes (1636) and Navarro (Spain, 1642) but by then was probably already in decline. Please note that it survived in music well after the dance itself became extinct. (Ency. 114)

Allemande, Almain, Alman, Allemayne

This was another processional dance, performed in England in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The name implies that it was derived from a German dance. Wilson (Inns of Court) says that the Almain ended double and single steps with a raised leg rather than closing the feet as in the Pavane. Arbeau (1588) describes a French version, but it was no longer danced in France in 1636 (per Mersennes). A version for two couples is described by Negri 1602. (Ency.)

The (Old) Measures

This is not a single dance, but rather a group of dances traditionally done together at the English Inns of Court. It isn't clear that all of them would be done the same night, mind you. They are the Quadran Pavan, Turkelone (Lone Turk?), Earle of Essex Measure, Tinternall, Lorrayne Allemayne, Auld Alman, Brounswycke, Queen's Almaine, Newe Allemayne, Madam Sosilia Alman and Black Almaine. Our sources for these dances are dated 1570, 1606, 1630, and more vaguely as "mid to late seventeenth century." The term "measures" may also be a generic term for the class of processional dances including both pavanes and almains. (Pugliese & Casazza).

Courante

As a musical form, the courante dates back to the mid sixteenth century. There is a problematic description of a "Caranto Dyspane" in a record of dances done at a 1570-ish Inns of Court revel, and equally confusing descriptions in Arbeau (1589), Negri ...