Class 5 term 1

The highlight of the evening was a successful impromptu reconstruction session of Brando Gentile.

• Ginevra, Lioncello, Passamezzo (Katherine and David - personal practice)
• Heart's Ease, Rufty Tufty, Parson's Farewell - experiments in memory
• Bizzaria d'Amore
• Spero
• Barcellone
• La Danse de Cleves
• Il Brando Gentile

Il Brando Gentile was an impromptu group-reconstruction effort after my other plans fell through - we blew through material quickly, and none of us felt up to especially jumpy dances. I was intending that we try one of the more straightforward dances for four by Negri - something similar to Bizzaria d'Amore, maybe Villancicco ... but I was distracted along the way by Brando Gentile.

I'd tried to reconstruct some of the other brandi many years ago, and found them (at the time) beyond my skill. Now Brando Gentile doens't seem too hard at all: we found acceptable interpretations of the first 8 parts during the class, and later in the evening I worked my way through the rest (it has fourteen parts, all quite short).

Write-up to appear soon!