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I realised I didn't have as good a handle on exactly what's in Negri's Le Gratie d'Amore as I'd like: lots of individual dances, yes, but not a good enough sense of what the whole looks like. (Of course, most of "the whole" isn't choreographies, but that's another post).

I've known for a long time that memorising long choreographies is a learned skill - one must learn the techniques for remembering, practice remembering, and eventually a whole complicated balletto can be memorised in a short session, where at the start even the simplest dances are hard to remember.

The Courante is an important dance in the renaissance - lots of text references, lots of music - but one we know little about.

The sources we have are tantalising, ambiguous and contradictory.

Descriptions

• Arbeau
• Negri
• Caranto Dyspayne
• the figured Coranto in MS Rawl.Poet. 108
• De Lauze

Arbeau

Arbeau's description of the steps is detailed, not especially internally consistent, and doesn't lend itself obviously to a pleasing action. Every time I read it I come up with something slightly different.

There are a good few text indications that a common assumption in 15th century Italy was that there would be more men dancing than women (though there are also descriptions of groups of women dancing together). 

This block of classes begins on Thursday June 18th, from 7:30pm, in the Avondale Lions Hall.

Venue

Avondale Lions Hall
1630 Great North Road
Corner of Great North Road and Blockhouse Bay Road.

There is parking behind the building: turn into the carpark from Great North Road.

Class notes from March 2015 are here - listed below, with recent updates on the front page. 

Until 2015 I kept most of my class notes on the Ildhafn website. 

You can still find them there: ildhafn.lochac.sca.org/journal/Dance

This semester's classes begin on Thursday March 12th, from 7:30pm, in the Avondale Lions Hall.

Venue

Avondale Lions Hall
1630 Great North Road
Corner of Great North Road and Blockhouse Bay Road.

There is parking behind the building: turn into the carpark from Great North Road.

We're no longer rehearsing for Return to Terpsichore, a wonderful show we did with brilliant early music ensemble Affetto, so it's time to look at classes for the rest of the year.

Classes continue every Thursday evening, from 7:30, at CityDance. 

As usual, the first hour is open to all comers, with dances and pace chosen to be as inclusive as possible. We'll focus on Old Measures, Branles, and the simpler 15th-century Italian dances.

Chiara Stella, Lo Spagnoletto, Ballo del Fiore, Celeste Giglio - canario