A Short History of the Galliard
(Markus Lehner)
Created around 1500, the galliard became by far the most popular dance in the late 16th century. Whether as a dance in its own right, part of a balletto, or as a after-dance, the galliard offered plenty of opportunity to demonstrate athleticism and inventiveness in dance. A whole series of manuals from this period offered interested dancers a wealth of intricate variations for it. In the 17th century, however, tastes changed, starting in France, and elegant gracefulness was now preferred to wild leaps, resulting in the gaillarde slowly disappearing from the dance floors. Some dances from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, preserved in Beauchamp-Feuillet notation, give us an insight into the final years of the galliard.
The proposed workshop will introduce the basic galliard step, the famous “cinque passi” or “cinque-pas,” and outline a short choreographic sequence. A few easy to moderately difficult variations provide an insight into the breadth of possible variations and stylistic characteristics of the dance masters. The stylistic change in France in the early 17th century will be demonstrated before the participants can trace the gradual dissolution of the dance form using excerpts from late gaillardes.
Markus Lehner, Herrsching, Germany
Markus Lehner has been teaching historical dance with a focus on the Renaissance since 1984. His work in the field of dance research led to the publication of the "Manual of Sixteenth-century Dance Steps in Italy" in 1997. In 2022, he organized the fifth international Historical Dance Symposium at Burg Rothenfels under the title “The Ball – Conviviality, Power, Politics, 1600–1900.” He is a founding member and chairman of the Dance & History e.V. association, which promotes research and knowledge transfer in the field of historical dance.
She studied music in Madrid, The Hague and with Nadia Boulanger. She obtained an Early Dance Teacher diploma from the GSMD and a dance certificate from the Sorbonne, Paris. Among other opera productions she has choreographed for Rinaldo, Orlando, Alceste, Giulio Cesare, Ginastera’s Beatrix Cenci, King Arthur, Indes Galantes, Hippolyte et Aricie, Carmen, Massenet’s Manon and Lully’s Bourgeois Gentilhomme. She has collaborated as a dancer and choreographer with Les Arts Florissants, Ris et Danceries, Les Paladins, Elyma Ensemble and the Yepes Trio among others. She works with directors including Francisco Negrin, Alfredo Arias, Jean-Marie Villégier and Mireille Laroche. She has her own company, Donaires Ensemble, which presents baroque dance programs and contemporary dance pieces. She teaches regularly in Europe, South and North America and Japan. She is currently collaborating with with Anna Romaní on the edition of their first book on dance of the Spanish Golden Age: “Introduction to Dance in the Spanish Golden Age, its sources, and its links with French and Italian Dance”.
Anna Romaní, born in Barcelona, graduated in Contemporary Dance and Choreography at the Institut del Teatre. She specialises in Renaissance and Baroque dance, having trained with leading international teachers. Since 2005 she has performed with French companies such as Ensemble Donaïres, L’Eventail and Outre Mesure, and collaborated with ensembles including Le Poème Harmonique, Forma Antiqva and Vespres d’Arnadí. She frequently works with the Palau de la Música in projects involving both professional and amateur choirs, as well as family programmes. Alongside her performing career, she has consistently combined artistic practice with research. She co-directs Xuriach, a company dedicated to the study and performance of historical Catalan music and dance. As an educator, she integrates body and music through the Orff approach, and has taught at various conservatories and cultural institutions.
Caroline Copeland is the Associate Director of the New York Baroque Dance Company, appearing with the troupe at the Drottningholm Theater, the International Händel-Festspiele Göttingen, Guggenheim Museum, and Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival. She is a dancer and choreographer at the Boston Early Music Festival where choreographic credits include Campra's Le Carnaval de Venise, Händel’s Almira, Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, and Steffani’s Niobe. As a soloist, Caroline has collaborated with many groups around the US and Europe including Nordic Baroque Dancers, The New Dutch Academy, Juilliard415, Cantata Profana, and Mertz Trio. Her choreography has been presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Public Theater, and the Philipszaal in The Hague. She is on the dance faculties of Hofstra University and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance and a guest lecturer for Juilliard’s Historical Performance program. She holds a BA in Dance/Goucher College and MFA in Dance/Sarah Lawrence College.
Paris-based researcher and choreographer Alan Jones has given papers and classes at Burg Rothenfels on a number of occasions. Having performed Baroque dance widely in North America and Europe from the 1980s into the early 2000s, he now gives priority to choreographies of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, principally those of the United States. A frequent collaborator with the New York Baroque Dance Company (Catherine Turocy, director), he recently realized a suite of American dances for the company, including the Congo Minuet; this project was conducted in collaboration with Julia Bengtsson, and with support from the Centre National de la Danse. In addition to papers at Burg Rothenfels, he has presented at conferences hosted by the City University of New York, the court theater of Český Krumlov, and the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, among others. He is presently laying the groundwork for a website chronicling all the dancers, ballet masters, and dancing masters active in the early United States, along with the repertory they created. Contact: 
Irène Feste, Arcueil, France