A Hit Tune Becomes a Hit Dance: The Travels of a Pavane through Italy, Iberia, France and Germany "starring" three early 17th-century manuscripts
(Christine Bayle, Carles Mas, Barbara Sparti)
Thought to have originated in Spain, we now know the Pavaniglia music was born in Italy and that it originated as a dance. The choreography was a hit. There are more Pavaniglia descriptions (nine known to date) than for any other dance written between 1581 and 1614. Like much of the music, the choreographies are composed of variations—often extremely virtuosic. In the last 10-15 years, three dance manuscripts from the early 17th century have come to light, each containing a Pavane/Pavaniglia: Instruction pour dancer was compiled by a French dancing-master engaged at a German court and is probably the source for Praetorius’s Terpsichore; two Pavaniglia choreographies appear in Ercole Santucci’s 1614 Mastro da Ballo; and the Spanish Libro de danzar is by Juan Antonio Jaque. Questions to be addressed: Why the popularity of the danced Pavaniglia--across countries (Italy, France, Germany and Spain) and generations (c.1570-1620)? Why is Pavaniglia always presented as a discrete dance (to the same tune) rather than as an example of variations--like the canario and gagliarda--to any appropriate music? Were the choreographed Pavaniglia variations fixed (mandatory) or were they conceived as inspirations for individual improvisations?
Christine Bayle, Paris, France:
Solo dancer (Cie Miskovitch, Hamburg Opera), actress (Jeune Théâtre), with experience with contemporary music, created the company Ris et Danceries together with Francine Lancelot, and in 1983 L’Eclat des Muses, her own company within which she develops, as a performer and choreographer and with her team of dancers and live musicians, repertoires from dance and musical sources. As a dance teacher (CRR de Strasbourg, L’Eclat des Muses, Conservatoires, universities, seminars) in France and abroad, she collaborates, in particular, with the ACRAS. In 2001, she started working together with her team on choreological work from the beginning of the 17th century.
Carles Mas i Garcia, Bar-le-Duc, France:
Carles Mas i Garcia widmet sich seit 1975 der Erforschung von Musik und Tanz im Mittelalter und der frühen Neuzeit, aber auch dem Bereich der traditionellen Überlieferung. 1985 erhielt er in Katalonien den Nationalen Tanzpreis und veröffentlichte sein Werk „Aproximació a la tècnica coreogràfica del contrapàs.“ Als Tänzer, Musiker und Choreograf wirkte er bei vielen namhaften Gruppen mit, wie Compagnie Maître Guillaume, Ris et Danceries, Gruppo di Danza Rinascimentale, Renaidanse, Artefact. Derzeit ist er künstlerischer Leiter des Ensembles Baixadansar. Seit 1991 unterrichtet er regelmäßig traditionelle Musik an verschiedenen Musikhochschulen und Ausbildungszentren für Lehrer.
Barbara Sparti, Rome, Italy:
Barbara Sparti is a dance historian specialized in 15th-17th century Italian dance who has performed and choreographed period works for theatre and opera. She founded and directed the Gruppo di Danza Rinascimentale between 1975-88. Distinguished Visiting Professor at University of California at Los Angeles, she has been guest lecturer-choreographer in Princeton and Israel. Besides her edition-translation of Guglielmo Ebreo's 1463 dance treatise, and her Introduction to the facsimile edition of Santucci’s 1614 dance treatise, recent publications deal with style and aesthetics, improvisation and ornamentation, socio-economic and political contexts, dance music, Jewish dancing-masters, dance iconography, the moresca, and Italian baroque dance. She edited, with J. Van Zile, Imaging Dance: Visual Representations of Dancers and Dancing (2011) and received in the same year a collection of essays in her honour: Virtute et Arte del Danzare, ed. Alessandro Pontremoli.
