Katherine's Renaissance Dance Pages

The dance manuals of 16th and early-17th century Italy describe a bewildering array of individually-named steps (shown in tabular form in the concordance). Many steps are used only in ornate variations, or in certain types of dance (such as the galliard, or canary). Some are not explicitly called for in any choreography, but appear to be intended for skilled dancers to use as ornaments.

You can learn many beautiful dances having mastered only a small set of steps. This list of ten will allow you to do many of the most popular dances from Il Ballarino:

Riverenza - Continenza - Passo - Puntate - Seguito ordinario - Spezzato - Trango - Trabuchetto - Ripresa - Cadenza

After that, add these when you find you need them: seguito scorso, seguito semidoppio, scambiata, seguito finto, fioretto a piedi pari, seguito battuto.