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Units: Study and Performance

Our current operating scheme revolves around the concept of units, which is another way of saying that we choose a specific topic within the area of mediæval and renaissance dance and work on that topic until we are ready to move on to another topic.  The current study unit is what we work on during study meetings, and the current performance unit is what we work on during performance meetings.

Current and past units are described on this page, and each description includes a listing of some resources useful for that unit.  Please note that these lists are merely starting points, no attempt has been made to make them complete.

Units do not have any set duration, we change when the group is ready to move on, and it is possible within this model for us to work on multiple units simultaneously.  One way of doing this is to use different practices for different units, which is essentially what we are doing with our "study" and "performance" practices.  Ideas for future units are gladly accepted here.

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The Current Study Unit

Fabritio Caroso's Il Ballarino

June A.S. XXXVII (2002) to present.

Although sixteenth century Italian dance is sometimes spoken of in terms suggesting homogeneity, this really is not the case.  In fact the various treatises of just the final decades of the sixteenth century give sometimes quite different rules for dancing.  It is therefore appropriate to look at these treatises individually, and to dance any given dance in a manner appropriate to the source in which it is found.  This unit therefore looks at Il Ballarino, both its dances and its dance rules.

Il Ballarino is the earliest known work of Fabritio Caroso da Sermoneta.  It was published in Venice in 1581 and contains 80 dance choreographies (In 1600 and again in 1605 Caroso published Nobiltà di dame, a major reworking of the dance treatise with 49 choreographies included, and Nobiltà was reissued in 1630 under the title Raccolta di varij balli).  Neither birth nor death dates are known for Caroso, but two likely birth dates are 1526 and 1535, and Raccolta's 1630 publication date was after Caroso's death.

In June of A.S. XXXVII (2002) Alejandra de Miera held a dance workshop concentrating on Il Ballarino, the Barony of Dragonship Haven's Al Palazzo di Contessa event, and several Accademia della Danza members attended.  We brought back from this event a set of step descriptions specific to this treatise, as well as directions for a handful of dances.  Over the course of this unit we have worked on some of these dances and added some others.

Dances worked on as part of this unit:

(Note: facsimile and transcription links are external)
   Barriera: facsimile transcription    
   Barriera nuoua: facsimile transcription    
   Bassa Toscana: facsimile transcription    
   Bella Gioiosa: facsimile transcription    
   Chiara Stella: facsimile transcription    
   Contentezza d'Amore: facsimile transcription    
   Contrapasso: facsimile transcription    
   Contrapasso nuouo: facsimile transcription    
   Dolce amoroso fuoco: facsimile transcription    
   Fulgente Stella: facsimile transcription translation step tabulation
   Gentilezza d'Amore: facsimile transcription    
   Gloria d'Amore: facsimile transcription    
   Gracca Amorosa: facsimile transcription    
   Marauiglia d'Amore: facsimile transcription    
   Spagnoletta nuoua: facsimile transcription    
   Villanella: facsimile transcription    

Some useful resources for the Il Ballarino unit (Note: external links):

  • The Library of Congress' An American Ballroom Companion site.  Contains scanned images of dance manuals in the LoC's collection, as well as general information on each manual.  This collection includes Il Ballarino.
  • Facsimile edition of Il Ballarino.  Published in 1967 by Broude Brothers, this facsimile is available from Dance Books, or you could try getting it directly from Broude Brothers.
  • Markus Lehner's A Manual of Sixteenth-Century Italian Dance Steps.   A compilation of dance rules for different steps used in 16th century Italian dance.  It is often referred to by those familiar with it as "the red book".  Lehner does not translate anything, what you get is the original.  He organizes by step, so you will find differing interpretations of a given named step all together for easy comparison.   This was published in Germany in 1997 by fa-gisis (ISBN 3-931344-01-0), but unfortunately is not available at present.  Rumor has it that Lehner is preparing a revised edition.
  • Greg Lindahl's Il Ballarino site.  Includes a complete transcription, and should eventually include translations as well.
  • Notes and handouts from Alejandra de Miera's June A.S. XXXVII (2002) workshop.
  • Greg Lindahl's Queen Anna's New World of Words site.  Includes scanned images from a 1968 facsimile of this 1611 Italian/English dictionary.
  • Selma Jeanne Cohen's Dance as a Theatre Art.  Includes, among many other things (most of which are not at all related to renaissance dance) a few portions of Il Ballarino translated into English by Julia Sutton.  Sutton included the section describing the dance "Passo e Mezo" and the relevant step rules.  To date this is the only published English translation of any part of Il Ballarino.
  • Julia Sutton's Courtly Dance of the Renaissance.  A translation of Caroso's Nobiltà di dame; so specific step descriptions and music may not be appropriate for Il Ballarino work, but it contains a wealth of background information including some basic information about Caroso's life.  For those dances which show up in both works, it can also be helpful in working out one version to check out the other version.  Paperback edition published by Dover Books (ISBN 0-486-28619-3).

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The Current Performance Unit


Thoinot Arbeau's Les Bouffons

Autumn A.S. XXXVI (2001) to spring A.S. XXXVI (2002), and beyond.

See Carolingian Buffens Team for more information.


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Past Units

The unit concept has not been formally in place for very long, so there have not yet been many "past" units.  This listing also includes some (highly incomplete) information on topics covered in Accademia della Danza prior to adoption of the unit system.


Domenico da Piacenza's Verçepe

  • Time frame:  February A.S. XXXVII (2003) to March A.S. XXXVII (2003).
  • Unit type:  Performance
  • Unit description:
    • General notes:  Verçepe is a ballo found in both Domenico da Piacenza's treatise De arte saltandi et choreas ducendi (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds ital. 972) and Antonio Cornazano's treatise Libro dell'arte del danzare (Vatican, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, capponiano 203).  Domenico's treatise is not dated, but it is believed to predate the other surviving works of this repertoire, and therefore to be from no later than 1455.   Cornazano's treatise dates to 1455.
    • Reconstruction:  In February A.S. XXXVII (2003), following our performance of Tesara, this dance was suggested as a possible performance piece for Carolingia's upcoming Crossroads Faire event.   Rather than use an existing reconstruction, Arglwydd Phelan ab Emrys created a new one for the performance; it is available here (Note: Rich text format).
    • Style Notes:  For more information on the style we used for this dance, see details of our past study unit, Dances from the Domenico Tradition.
  • Some useful resources for the Verçepe unit (Note: external links):
    • D. R. Wilson's The Steps Used in Court Dancing in Fifteenth-Century Italy.  Looks in detail at the steps used in 15th century Italian dance.  The revised and enlarged second edition was published by the author in 1998 (ISBN 0-9513640-4-9), and is available through Dance Books.
    • A. William Smith's Fifteenth-Century Dance and Music.  Provides, in two volumes, detailed information on the known manuscripts associated with this repertoire.  Volume I ("Treatises and Music") provides information about the three authors of surviving manuscripts, complete transcriptions and translations for three of the manuscripts, and music for the dances.  Volume II ("Choreographic Descriptions with Concordances of Variants") presents for each dance the descriptions included in each of the manuscripts, broken down into sections for easier comparison.  A translation is provided as well, but the reader should be careful as this translation does not necessarily represent any given source's description of the dance.  Published by Pendragon Press in 1995 (volume I ISBN 0-945193-25-4, volume II ISBN 0-945193-57-2), and available through Dance Books.
    • Ingrid Brainard's The Art of Courtly Dancing in the Early Renaissance.  Includes a 1981 reconstruction of Verçepe, with notes.
    • Ingrid Brainard's Three Court Dances of the Early Renaissance.  Includes an earlier version of Dr. Brainard's Verçepe reconstruction.
    • Madeleine Inglehearn's & Peggy Forsyth's translation of Antonio Cornazano's Libro dell'arte del danzare.
    • Vivian Stephens' and Monica Cellio's Joy and Jealousy: A Manual of 15th-Century Italian Balli.  Reconstructs the steps, choreographies, and music for two dozen balli and includes 3-part arrangements of the music.  Second printing published by Real Soon Now Press in 1998, third printing by Greg Lindahl in 2001.  Out of print, but the text is available online here, and as of January 2003 Greg Lindahl reports still having copies available for sale.

Domenico da Piacenza's Tesara

  • Time frame:  October A.S. XXXVII (2002) to February A.S. XXXVII (2003).
  • Unit type:  Performance
  • Unit description:
    • General Notes:  Tesara is a ballo found in Domenico da Piacenza's treatise De arte saltandi et choreas ducendi (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds ital. 972).  This treatise is not dated, but it is believed to predate the other surviving treatises of this repertoire, and therefore to be from no later than 1455.
    • Reconstruction Notes:  Interest in doing this dance was sparked by its appearance at Pennsic in the summer of A.S. XXXVII (2002), at which event the reconstruction of Lord Ryan Murdoch Mackenzie was taught.  We started by trying out Lord Ryan's reconstruction, but found some areas in which we preferred different interpretations.  Lord Orlando de Medici then generated what became our reconstruction (Note: Microsoft Word format) from his interpretation of the manuscript (as transcribed by Smith) coupled with various experiments and discussions within Accademia, and Arglwydd Phelan ab Emrys generated a step tabulation to go with that reconstruction.
    • Style Notes:  For more information on the style we used for this dance, see details of our past study unit, Dances from the Domenico Tradition.
  • Some useful resources for the Tesara unit (Note: external links):
    • D. R. Wilson's The Steps Used in Court Dancing in Fifteenth-Century Italy.  Looks in detail at the steps used in 15th century Italian dance.  The revised and enlarged second edition was published by the author in 1998 (ISBN 0-9513640-4-9), and is available through Dance Books.
    • A. William Smith's Fifteenth-Century Dance and Music.  Provides, in two volumes, detailed information on the known manuscripts associated with this repertoire.  Volume I ("Treatises and Music") provides information about the three authors of surviving manuscripts, complete transcriptions and translations for three of the manuscripts, and music for the dances.  Volume II ("Choreographic Descriptions with Concordances of Variants") presents for each dance the descriptions included in each of the manuscripts, broken down into sections for easier comparison.  A translation is provided as well, but the reader should be careful as this translation does not necessarily represent any given source's description of the dance.  Published by Pendragon Press in 1995 (volume I ISBN 0-945193-25-4, volume II ISBN 0-945193-57-2), and available through Dance Books.

Dances from the Domenico Tradition

  • Time frame:  April A.S. XXXVI (2002) to June A.S. XXXVII (2002).
  • Unit type:  Study
  • Unit description:
    • Dance from 15th century Italy is known mainly from the works of Domenico da Piacenza (De arte saltandi et choreas ducendi, ca. 1455 or earlier: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds ital. 972), Antonio Cornazano (Libro dell'arte del danzare, 1455: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Capponiano 203 is a 1465 copy), and Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro (De pratica seu arte tripudii, 1463 and later: various copies, many undated).  Domenico was the first of these and is considered the master; the other two declaring in their treatises that they are disciples of his.  In this unit we looked at dances from 15th century Italy, with a bias towards Domenico's version where variation exists.
    • In March of A.S. XXXVI (2002) Barbara Sparti held a workshop on 15th century Italian dance at Goucher College.  Carolingian attendees included Countess Mara Tudora Kolarova, Arglwydd Phelan ab Emrys, and Lady Wentlian Harper.
    • The Sparti workshop presented a cohesive and internally consistent dance style, which is the style attempted by Accademia della Danza for this unit.  This style has steps beginning high and with a slight pause, dropping immediately to flat, and then rising up gradually over the course of the step to end high (obviously the rate of rise varies with the amout of time alloted to any given step; a sempio must rise more rapidly than a doppio, for example, since it is of shorter duration).  This stylistic choice may have been suggested and certainly seems supported by the following quote from Domenico (original and translation both provided by Barbara Sparti):
      "...chi del mestiero vole imparare bisogna danzare per fantasmata e nota che fantasmata e una presteza corporalle la quale e mossa cum lo intelecto de la mexura dicta imprima disopra facendo requia a cadauno tempo che pari haver veduto lo capo di meduxa como dice el poeta; cioe che facto el motto sij tutto di piedra inquello instante et ininstante tutti ale como falcone che per paiça mosso sia..."
      "...he who wishes to learn the profession must dance by fantasmata and note that phantasmata is a body quickness which is moved ("instigated") by the understanding of the misura already mentioned above making a pause [requia] at each tempo which looks as if he [the dancer] has seen the head of the medusa, as the poet says, that is, having performed the movement he becomes all of stone in that instant, and immediately all winged, like the falcon who moves [swoops?] on his prey..."
  • Dances worked on as part of this unit:
    • Colonnese
    • Gioioso (for three)
    • La Giloxia
    • Marchexana
    • Rostibuli Gioioso
    • Verçepe
  • Some useful resources for this unit (Note: external links):
    • D. R. Wilson's The Steps Used in Court Dancing in Fifteenth-Century Italy.  Looks in detail at the steps used in 15th century Italian dance.  The revised and enlarged second edition was published by the author in 1998 (ISBN 0-9513640-4-9), and is available through Dance Books.
    • A. William Smith's Fifteenth-Century Dance and Music.  Provides, in two volumes, detailed information on the known manuscripts associated with this repertoire.  Volume I ("Treatises and Music") provides information about the three authors of surviving manuscripts, complete transcriptions and translations for three of the manuscripts, and music for the dances.  Volume II ("Choreographic Descriptions with Concordances of Variants") presents for each dance the descriptions included in each of the manuscripts, broken down into sections for easier comparison.  A translation is provided as well, but the reader should be careful as this translation does not necessarily represent any given source's description of the dance.  Published by Pendragon Press in 1995 (volume I ISBN 0-945193-25-4, volume II ISBN 0-945193-57-2), and available through Dance Books.
    • Barbara Sparti's De Pratica Seu Arte Tripudii: On the Practice or Art of Dancing.  A transcription and translation of the 1463 copy of Guglielmo Ebreo's dance treatise, with music in both facsimile and modern notation.  Paperback edition published by Oxford University Press in 1995 (ISBN 0-19-816574-9).
    • Vivian Stephens' and Monica Cellio's Joy and Jealousy: A Manual of 15th-Century Italian Balli.  Reconstructs the steps, choreographies, and music for two dozen balli and includes 3-part arrangements of the music.  Second printing published by Real Soon Now Press in 1998, third printing by Greg Lindahl in 2001.  Out of print, but the text is available online here, and as of January 2003 Greg Lindahl reports still having copies available for sale.

Other Known Past Work

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This page is maintained by Jeremy H. Kessler.  It was last updated on 17 February 2004.
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