The Function and Status of Dance in the 15th-Century Italian Courts

Sparti, Barbara

doi:10.2307/1290824

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…“Variis gyris atque meandris” has been translated here as “varied circling and weaving” rather than as “various circlings and meanderings.” On “leaps and quick changes of step” as acceptable in the dancing of Quattrocento Florentine women, see Bryce, 1081, 1081n21. The phrase ad maurisiacum modulum could also be rendered “in the manner of a moresca .” The pantomimed, narrative dance that was called a moresca , “with its splendour, allegory, and expense, the true expression of the courts,” was, however, usually performed by men: Sparti, 1996, 53. See also Sparti, 2011, 325.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Female Virtue and the Embodiment of Beauty: Vittoria Colonna in Paolo Giovio’sNotable Men and Women^*

Gouwens¹

2015

Renaiss. Q.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a dialogue drafted soon after the Sack of Rome (1527), Paolo Giovio details historical views of female dignity and assesses the beauty and talents of over 100 women in contemporary Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, and Rome. Unlike most such catalogues, Giovio’s seasons praise with explicit acknowledgment of physical, intellectual, and personal shortcomings. Yet it also celebrates Vittoria Colonna, who commissioned the work, as the ideal noblewoman. Giovio is unconventional in applying to this living woman a pattern of graphic physical description that Petrarch, Boccaccio, Bembo, and many others had followed in delineating fictional characters. This strategy exemplifies the latitude of representational possibilities that characterized Italian literature and art of the 1520s and 1530s. The dialogue also eloquently documents a crucial time in Colonna’s life when her verse commemoration of her husband coalesced with religious devotion, and when physical beauty could be seen to harmonize with other virtues to form a desirable and inspirational whole.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Female Virtue and the Embodiment of Beauty: Vittoria Colonna in Paolo Giovio’sNotable Men and Women^*

Gouwens¹

2015

Renaiss. Q.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The status of the maestri di ballo is often debated. Sparti suggests it was not a prestigious role (Sparti 1996b) but others state it was. Clement Crisp and Mary…”

Section: The Dance Mastermentioning

confidence: 99%

Issues of Dance Notation: Domenico da Piacenza's Dance Writing in Fifteenth-Century Italy

Spedding¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

<p>Dance is an art form that is traditionally taught through physical demonstration. Choreography is forgotten if it is not practised repetitively, as dancers must rely on physical memory without the help of a written score to remind them of the steps. So many great works have been lost over time as choreographers have neglected to preserve their routines in written form. To prevent this, multiple notation systems have been created but none of them have ever become as popular or standardised as music notation. Many of these systems involve symbols that can only be understood by those who have studied the system in depth and are therefore inaccessible to the everyday dancer or choreographer. The origins of dance notation in Western culture come from fifteenth-century Italy. Dance masters who served at the many courts of the country recognised the need for dance to be intellectually understood as well as performed. The popularity of manuals as a way to discuss art, music, philosophy and many other subjects that formed the education of the elite during the Renaissance led to the writing of dance manuals. Domenico da Piacenza (c.1400-1476) was the first to do this, and his treatise De arte saltandi et choreas ducendi (c.1455) is an eloquently written model text for all dance manuals that followed. Domenico does not notate his dances with symbols, but rather uses word descriptions to explain his choreography. His manual includes sixteen chapters which discuss the qualities one should aspire to achieve when dancing, the nature of the different misure (speeds) of the music, and how one should dance to each of these. This is followed by descriptions of eighteen of Domenico’s balli accompanied with his self-composed music, and five bassadanze. By examining closely three of Domenico’s balli, and attempting to reconstruct them, this thesis engages with issues regarding the preservation of dance and how effective the use of the written word is for doing so. Although there are several flaws in Domenico’s system, the idea of using the written word to notate dance still seems the most practical to date. The method created by Domenico in fifteenth-century Italy for his court dances is still the most common way for modern dance forms such as ballet and ballroom to be notated, transmitted to others and learned by dancers today.</p>

show abstract

“…Intrínsecas às formas estabelecidas ao longo de séculos no campo erudito, diversas danças populares foram levadas para dentro das cortes, reelaboradas por mestres de dança e sistematizadas em tratados com grande detalhamento. Um acontecimento que não se deu de maneira súbita, nem homogênea, mas que inseriu danças de roda e cortejo oriundas de espaços públicos ou mesmo privados, já reelaboradas, entre as artes liberais (Sparti, 1996). A corte francesa de Luís XIV (1638-1715) foi o ápice desse processo, em termos de importância e reconhecimento da dança como uma das principais virtudes humanas.…”

Section: Elaboraçõesunclassified

Da inventiva ao papel: Oralidade e escrita na obra de Elomar Figueira Mello

Bertelli

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

The Function and Status of Dance in the 15th-Century Italian Courts

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Female Virtue and the Embodiment of Beauty: Vittoria Colonna in Paolo Giovio’sNotable Men and Women^*

Female Virtue and the Embodiment of Beauty: Vittoria Colonna in Paolo Giovio’sNotable Men and Women^*

Issues of Dance Notation: Domenico da Piacenza's Dance Writing in Fifteenth-Century Italy

Da inventiva ao papel: Oralidade e escrita na obra de Elomar Figueira Mello

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

The Function and Status of Dance in the 15th-Century Italian Courts

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Female Virtue and the Embodiment of Beauty: Vittoria Colonna in Paolo Giovio’sNotable Men and Women*

Female Virtue and the Embodiment of Beauty: Vittoria Colonna in Paolo Giovio’sNotable Men and Women*

Issues of Dance Notation: Domenico da Piacenza's Dance Writing in Fifteenth-Century Italy

Da inventiva ao papel: Oralidade e escrita na obra de Elomar Figueira Mello

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Female Virtue and the Embodiment of Beauty: Vittoria Colonna in Paolo Giovio’sNotable Men and Women^*

Female Virtue and the Embodiment of Beauty: Vittoria Colonna in Paolo Giovio’sNotable Men and Women^*