Numerous dance-manuals were published in Italy in the second half of the 16th century, and first quarter of the 17th. These, in addition to numerous other texts, allow a more complete knowledge of the dances of this period than we can for any other dance-style before the Baroque.
Sources containing choreographies, detailed descriptions of steps, or detailed descriptions of mutanze, that I have used or referred to in this website, include:
- Firenze, Bilbioteca Nazionale, ms. Magl. XIX, 31 (four choreographies, c. 1560)
- Lamberto Christiano (1559, letter describing La Caccia)
- Chigi MS (13 choreographies, c. 1560?)
- Compasso, Ballo della Gagliarda (1560)
- Caroso, Il Ballarino (1581)
- Lutii, Opera bellissima ... (1589)
- Lupi, Libro di Mutanze di Gagliarda, Passo e Mezzo, Canario, è Passeggi (1600, 1607)
- Caroso, Nobiltà di Dame (1600)
- Negri, Le Gratie d'Amore (1602, 1604)
- Santucci, Maestro da Ballo (c.1614)