Giordano, Gloria: Two 18th-century Italian choreographies discovered in the Cia Fornaroli-Walter Toscanini Collection at The New York Public Library

Thanks to the exhibition, 500 Years of Italian Dance:  Treasures from the Cia Fornaroli Collection held at The New York Public Library of the Performing Arts (October 2006-January 2007), two formerly unknown Italian manuscripts in Beauchamps-Feuillet notation have come to light. Both choreographies, from the second half of the 1720s, are for one couple and are an extremely important source for any study of Italian “baroque” and 18th-century dance.

In my presentation I intend to trace the influence of French choreography and notation, starting in the second half of the 17th century, on Italian ballroom and theatrical dance. The presentation will include a practical demonstration.

Gloria Giordano, Rome, Italy

Gloria Giordano has a degree in Pedagogy from the lumsa University of Rome. She is a graduate of the National Academy of Dance in Rome, where she has taught Dance Theory since 1986.  She furthered her study of Renaissance and Baroque Dance with, among others, Christine Bayle, Angene Feves, Francine Lancelot, Barbara Sparti. She performs in her own pruductions and with Italian and European companies, and has participated in numerous festivals. She has also choreographed periodopera. She has participated in international conferences and given lecture-demonstrations on 16th-18th century dance at various music conservatories.  Her essays have appeared in specialized journals including “La danza italiana”, “Chorégraphie”, “Dance Chronicle”, “Dance Research”, and she has contributed to the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.  In 2005 she edited the facsimile (with cd rom) of the manuscript Balletti of Gaetano Grossatesta (Venice, 1726), for Libreria Musicale Italiana (L.I.M.).