Dance in the 15th century

The Principles of Dance

To master the art of dancing, it was necessary for the dancer to consider the following six elements:

renaissance painting

MISURA (MEASURE) meaning that the dancer should move harmoniously with the sound and the beat of the music. The four tempo measures are the bassa danza, quadernaria, saltarello and piva.

MEMORIA which means simply that the dancer must remeber the choreography and the sequence of steps.

PARTIRE DI TERRENO by which is meant that the dancer needs to be fully aware of the room in which s/he's moving, so that s/he can adapt hir steps to the size of the available space [it is therefore more difficult to dance well in a small than in a large room, because the former demands greater attention to spatial subdivisions and general contex.

AIERE (AIRINESS) meaning a slowly rising movement (sort of natural relevÈ) at the onset of each step and a rapid descending movement at the end, so that a flowing horizontal movement is achieved, like a gondola on quiet water.

MANIERA a contrary movement of the upper body in relation to the steps.

MOVIMENTO CORPOREO what is meant here is that 'the perfect dancer' has a well-proportioned, agile and supple body. This is regarded as an expression of the ideal conditions for bringing this art to the ultimate level of perfection.


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