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Febus

Also known as: 

Bassadanca called Febus for three, composed by Messer Domenico

Title translation: 
Phoebus
Dance Type: 
Number of dancers: 
3
About this choreography: 
Created for class "15thC Italian dances for three", late 2025.
Choreography: 

Structure

  1. Opening, walking together
  2. Separate
  3. Swap ends
  4. Swap ends again
  5. Come together and end

Each section has a walking/moving section (some number of singles and doubles); and an ornamental section, done more or less in place (Riverenze, continenzie, turns, riprese)

Opening position

Begin standing side by side, in a line: woman - man - woman. Hand position isn't specified - you could hold hands, or simply dance side-by-side.

 

1. Opening

cc (ss d r )x2, man turns

  • 2 continentie, LR
  • 2 sempii LR, doppio L, ripresa R
  • repeat the 2 sempii, doppio, and ripresa - but the man (or person in the middle) uses the final ripresa to do a mezavolta, so he ends facing back to where they started (but still between the two women). 

2. Separate

dd-mv rr

  • 2 doppii, LR - women and man in opposite directions, as they finished part 1
  • at the end of the second double, they all do a mezavolta on the right, to end facing
  • 2 riprese, LR

3. Swap ends, passing through

ss dd-mv rr R

  • 2 sempii LR and 2 doppii LR - approaching each other, and changing places, with the man passing between the two women.
  • mezavolta at the end of the second doppio, so they end facing again
  • 2 riprese LR, riverentia L, all facing - women towards man, man towards women

When you "swap places" it's ok if you don't end up exactly the same distance apart - in fact, you probably won't, and that's part of the choreography. The direction you face and your orientation to the other dancers is what matters. 

4. Swap ends again

2T saltarelli, mv, rrr, volta del gioioso

  • 2 saltarelli in bassadanza misura, finishing with another mezavolta, to face (not too far apart)
  • 2 three riprese facing, LRL
  • voltatonda/volta del gioioso - turn in place using 2 sempii RL, and a ripresa R

For the saltarelli - you have two tempi of bassadanza misura, but you're dancing saltarello, so your saltarelli will be either "too slow" or "too fast".

Option 1: slow: 2 doppii, same timing as usual for bassadanza, but with little hops at the ends like saltarello - make it look bouyant and 'airy' even if you're faking it.

Option 2 : fast: 4 doppii, twice the speed, which is fast even for saltarelli. You'll probably end up dancing this as simple-triple, rather than compound duple. 

5. Come together and end

ss, women turn, rr R

  • 2 sempii approaching
  • at end, women turn (mezavolta on right foot) to face the same direction as man (optionally: with a small jump)
  • take hands, then: 2 riprese LR, and riverentia L, all together, side-by-side again, facing same direction as at the start

Three of seven sources finish here, with no mention of repeating. Four suggest repeating. 

Discussion: 

One of the few choreographies from this culture that explicitly calls for more women than men in each set. 

It appears in seven Gulgliemo/Ambrosio MSS, though the composition is attributed in the texts to Domenico (likely accurate). 

This is written for one man between two women, but could be danced by any gender combination (and probably was). Where the instructions below refer to "man" and "woman", you can read "person in the middle" and "people on the sides".

Music: 

This reconstruction is set to the recording by the Bedford Waits. The length chosen by the musicians - 29T, played twice - requires that the mezavolte all happen at the end of the preceding tempo/step (rather than having a separate tempo for just the mezavolta) - a good choreographic choice (just not the only one).