Category: Dance

The Spanish Dance

16th century, 16th century, Dance

A set of images titled “Der Spanichs Dantz” came to my attention from the Códice de trajes, a German costume book in the National Library of Spain. As we have no surviving dance treatises from Spain, I was immediately curious about what could be gleaned from these images.

The Clothes

The thing I find most interesting about the clothes is the manner in which the ladies are managing their skirts for dancing. The first two images show what seem to be upper class ladies with their outer skirts tucked up inside in the front, revealing the farthingales beneath. The third image shows outer skirts tucked up to the outside and perhaps pinned in back, and no farthingales below.

The Drum

Some of the comments on these images when I first found them were focused on the square object shown in the second and third images. Given the dance context and the way the object is held in both images, this seemed likely to be a frame drum. A quick search for square frame drums turned up the adufe, a square frame drum or tambourine of Moorish origin, commonly used on the Iberian peninsula. This seemed to be exactly the drum shown here. The terms daf or pandeiro show up as similar instruments, but searching those terms turns up round rather than square examples.

The Dance

In the context of the clothes and drum, we can look at the dance itself. The position of the dancers seems exceptionally lively, with arms lifted and torsos angled in ways that are uncommon for most European dances. Coupled with the origin of the drum shown, I suspect that these images may show what Arbeau describes in Orchesographie regarding the Maltese Branle:

Some of the Knights of Malta devised a ballet … in which an equal number of men and damsels, dressed in Turkish costume, danced a round branle, comprising certain gestures and twisting movements of the body, which they called the Maltese branle.

He also says that “It was some forty years ago that this branle was first danced in France”. Given that Orchesographie was published in 1589 and the Códice de trajes dates to 1540, the timeline seems to track as well.

Lorayne Alman

Dance

Recently Her Highness Emelyne, Crown Princess of Meridies, asked me to suggest a dance to open her White Rose Ball, and I was happy to offer Lorayne Alman as an option that was simple, pretty, and (with the aid of musicians) able to go for as short or long a time as desired. As I suggested the dance, it behooves me to provide some instruction for those unfamiliar with the steps.

Lorayne Alman appears in one of the Inns of Court manuscripts from 1570, and matching music can be found in contemporary sources. Discussion of these sources can be found in Practise for Dauncinge. The steps are as follows:

Part A:

  • 4 alman doubles forward, hopping

Part B:

  • 1 alman double forward
  • 1 alman double backward
  • 1 alman double forward
  • turn to the outside
  • repeat Part B

All of the steps in this dance are doubles, which are with three steps and a pause: left, right, left, pause. A left double is done first, followed by a right double: right, left, right, pause. Left and right alternate for the duration of the dance. That said, it is generally not important (and, for ladies, not visible) if one is on the wrong foot in this dance.

While the source for this dance refers to the step simply as a “duble”, we look to Arbeau’s Orchesography (1589) for a description of how the double is done in an Alman. Arbeau describes it as “three steps and one grève or pied en l’air“, which is to say to take three steps and then raise the foot in the air on the fourth beat during the pause. It is not necessary to raise the foot quite as high as the illustration shows, though you are welcome to do so if you desire. In part A of this dance, there is also a hop on the fourth beat of the double, making the entire sequence step, step, step, hop with foot in the air.

Aside from doubles forward and back, there is a turn, which is done to the left by the men (who are standing on the left) and to the right by the ladies, so that they are turning away from each other and end facing forward once more. As far as the feet are concerned, this is simply another double that happens to go in a circle instead of a straight line.

There are two ways to determine that you are in the second part of the dance where the backward double occurs. First, you can listen to the music, which has a different melody for the A and B sections. Second, you may recall that the A section of the dance has doubles with hops at the end, while the B section has no hops. This means that if the couple in front of you just did a double with no hop, then you are about to go backwards. In any case, the music is not so fast that it is very difficult to change directions should you begin going forward instead of backward.

Music:

There is a commonly used arrangement of the music available here for musicians, and also recordings freely available for dancers to practice to:

Flemish Peasant Details

16th century, Dance

I saw some paintings this morning that I hadn’t run across before. A few interesting bits stood out to me. First were two paintings of the Feast of St. George by Pieter Balten.

Picture 1

Here we can see a vigorous line dance being led from one end, without couples (though genders seem to alternate until they run out of men). On the left are two other dancers executing what appears to be an under-the-arm turn.

Picture 2

Here is another instance of a woman turning under the arm of a man.

Picture 4

This is a very clear depiction of a play being performed, with a curtained off backstage area.

Maerten van Cleve’s Parable of the Blind shows a good angle on a codpiece (martingale?).

Picture 3

This Lucas Gassel landscape has a nice layout of a tennis court:

Picture 5

A Quick Recap

12th century, 14th century, Calligraphy & Illumination, Dance

I’ve been fairly busy lately, but not on any massive projects.

  • The Saltare Dance Collegium was this past weekend, hosted by the Shire of Vulpine Reach. It was pretty well attended, and folks seemed to have a good time. My feet and legs have forgiven me already.
  • I’m working on some new clothes for Pennsic, mostly a comfy 14th century tunic (based on the Herjolfsnes 43 pattern) and wool chausses. I should try to pick up some more appropriate shoes once I get there. I also need to put some mounts on my revised belt.
  • My lovely wife Adela was invited to join the Order of the Laurel (yay!), and I need to work on her scroll. I have people lined up to do most of the work, but I need to get the design and text worked out so they can get started. Hopefully I’ll get that knocked out this weekend. I also need to finish up the gown I’ve been working on so it’ll be ready for her elevation at Coronation in September.
  • I also need to get some 12th century clothes made by Coronation. I think I’ll use the H.43 tunic as the under layer for that and just make another tunic with shorter, wider sleeves to go on top, with some embroidery or something.

Household Workshop Day

16th century, Accessories, Dance, Household

This weekend was the first chance I was able to get together with both my new student Philippa and my apprentice Serafina. We met up at Philippa’s house to work on various projects.

A couple weeks ago I helped Philippa drape a body block for herself. We used that to work out patterns for a kirtle and loose gown modeled after a portrait of Eleanora de Toledo. After a few iterations of drafting and test fitting, we arrived at a pretty good shape.

Serafina brought along a new pouch that she’s been working on, and made good progress on it. It’s shaping up to be very close to the period examples she’s working from.

After we finished sewing for the day, we went over a few dances that Philippa wanted to teach her students later this week. Despite having to imagine most of the other dancers in our sets, I think it went pretty well.

A Note For All: Planning Dancing For Events

Dance

In the course of preparing for an event, there are many things that require advance planning and work before the appointed date arrives. If there is to be a feast, a head cook must be selected, who will plan what dishes will be served, test the recipes, buy the food, and perhaps cook some things before the feast itself. Artisans may spend weeks or months creating decorations, site tokens, tourney prizes, and the like. Teachers must prepare their classes and create instructional materials.

Though it usually comes at the very end of the event and is a time for joy and relaxation, a dance revel benefits just as much from such attention. Just as the other event staff is chosen well ahead of time, your dance leader should be appointed early enough that they can plan ahead for the dancing. If there is to be live music, this makes it much easier for the musicians to be prepared, whether they are from your own group or from further afield. More importantly, if the dance list is created and posted along with the other event information, there will be ample chance for those attending the event to learn unfamiliar dances or refresh their memories.

Just as the populace of the hosting group may be involved in the cooking and serving of feast, the creation of decorations and prizes, and other tasks that contribute to the success of an event, so too can they be involved in preparation for the dancing. A pre-determined dance list is an excellent way to focus the instruction at your local dance practice, or to get a local practice started in preparation for your event. While it is possible to teach dances at a revel, it is far more enjoyable for there to be enough familiarity with the dances that no teaching is required, or simply a quick reminder of the choreography.

It is, of course, possible to contact one of the experienced dance masters in the kingdom at the last minute to run your revel, but this should be the exception rather than the rule. An experienced cook from another group may be able to produce a good feast on a moment’s notice, but far better to give the aspiring cooks in the hosting group an opportunity to hone their craft so that they may achieve mastery in their own right.

Dance Class Recap

Dance

So the Barony was contacted a few weeks back by a homeschool group in the area that was looking for someone to teach them some dances that they could incorporate into a Robin Hood play. I drove down to McDonough this evening (along with my faithful apprentice Serafina) for the class, not exactly sure what to expect. Since they would be performing the dances without any ringers later, I decided to stick to some pretty simple stuff that would still be fun and look good on stage: Gathering Peascods, Queen’s Alman, and Montarde Bransle.

There were a couple dozen kids there, from about 6 to 18 (plus several spectating parents), and they were all very attentive and excited. We spent 3 hours learning and drilling the dances, with a little Ballo del Fiore thrown in to shake things up before the final run-through. By the end they were able to make it through everything with hardly any calling from me, so I think that if they get to practice a few more times they should have no problem. I had a really good time teaching, and hopefully a few of them will come see what the rest of our game is about. I think any of them would be great to have around.