Editing Renaissance dance

{{Short description|Type of dance}}
{{Renaissance}}
'''Renaissance dances''' belong to the broad group of [[historical dance]]s, specifically those during the [[Renaissance]] period.  During that period, there was a distinction between [[country dance]]s 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, {{circa}}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".<ref>Ann and Paul Kent DHDS,2013 {{ISBN|978-0-9540988-1-0}}</ref>  The first printed English source appeared in 1651, the [[The Dancing Master|first edition]] of [[John Playford|Playford]].

The dances in these manuals are extremely varied in nature. They range from slow, stately "processional" dances ([[bassadance]], [[pavane]], [[allemande|almain]]) to fast, lively dances ([[galliard]], [[courante|coranto]], [[canarie (dance)|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 [[dance lift|lifts]] were called the ''haute dance''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WjXnoYihuu0C|pages=215|title=Elizabeth's London|author=Liza Picard|isbn=978-0-312-32566-4|year=2005|publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]] enjoyed galliards, and ''la spagnoletta'' was a court favourite.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Images of the dance : historical treasures of the Dance Collection 1581–1861.|last=Moore, Lillian.|date=1965|publisher=New York Public Library|oclc=466091730}}</ref>

Some were choreographed, others were improvised on the spot.  One dance for couples, a form of the galliard called [[Volta (dance)|volta]], involved a rather intimate hold between the man and woman, with the woman being lifted into the air while the couple made a {{3/4}} turn.  Other dances, such as [[branle]]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 [[Basse danse|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 ==
{|style="margin:1em auto;"
|[[File:Print, Dance at Herod's Court, ca. 1490 (CH 18420585-2).jpg|thumb|''Dance at Herod's Court'', an [[engraving]] by [[Israhel van Meckenem]], c. 1490]]
|[[File:Ambrosius Benson - Elegant couples dancing in a landscape leo sobre tabla museo de bellas artes de la universidad de utah utah usa.jpg|thumb|[[Ambrosius Benson]], ''Elegant couples dancing in a landscape'', before 1550]]
|[[File:Robert Dudley Elizabeth Dancing.jpg|thumb|French painting of the [[Lavolta|volta]], from [[Penshurst Place]], Kent, often wrongly assumed to be of Elizabeth I]]
|}

== References ==
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=== Sources ===
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* {{cite book|author=Ebreo, Guglielmo|title= On the practice or art of dancing (orig. pub. 1463) edited by Barbara Sparti|year=1993|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn= 0-19-816574-9}}
* {{cite book|author=Caroso, Fabritio|title=Courtly Dance of the Renaissance – a new translation and edition of Nobilta di Dame (orig. pub. 1600) edited by Julia Sutton|year=1986|publisher=Dover Publications Inc |location=New York|isbn= 0-486-28619-3}}
* {{cite book|author=A William Smith|title= Fifteenth-century dance and music: the complete transcribed Italian treatises and collections in the tradition of Domenico da Piacenza (vol 1)|year=1995|publisher=Pendragon Press|location=Stuyvesant, NY|isbn= 0-945193-25-4}}
* {{cite book|author=A William Smith|title= Fifteenth-century dance and music: the complete transcribed Italian treatises and collections in the tradition of Domenico da Piacenza (vol 2)|year=1995|publisher=Pendragon Press|location=Stuyvesant, NY|isbn= 0-945193-57-2}}
* {{cite book|author=Date Van Winkler Keller|author2=Genevieve Shimer|title=The Playford Ball 103 Early English Country Dances As Interpreted by Cecil Sharp and his Followers|year=1990|publisher=A Cappella Books and the Country Dance and Song Society|isbn=1-55652-091-3}}

{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.earlydancecircle.co.uk/resources/dance-through-history/ www.earlydancecircle.co.uk]
*[http://www.rendance.org/ The Renaissance Dance Homepage]
*[http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/dance.html Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) Renaissance Dance Homepage]
*[http://www.early-dance.de/taxonomy/term/6 Renaissance Dance Events] listed at the Calendar of Early-Dance
*[http://www.earlydancecircle.co.uk/ Official website]

=== Modern performance ===
Many groups exist that recreate historical music and dance from the Renaissance period
*[http://www.earlydancecircle.co.uk/ The Early Dance Circle] is an umbrella group for early dance in the UK
*[http://renaissancefootnotes.uk/ Renaissance Footnotes, a UK dance group recreating dances of the renaissance]

{{Renaissance navbox}}

[[Category:Renaissance dance| ]]
[[Category:History of dance]]
[[Category:Renaissance|Dance]]
[[Category:European court festivities]]