Dance evenings

Englische und französische Contre-Tänze des 18. Jahrhunderts
(Verena Brunner)

An diesem Abend steht das gesellige Tanzen mit Contre-Tänzen aus der 2. Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts im Vordergrund. Wir tanzen französische Contretänze (auch Cottillons oder Quadrillen genannt) und englische Tänze (Anglaisen) aus verschiedenen deutschen Quellen, sowie aus den Recueil von De La Cuisse. Zusätzlich zu Contre-Tänzen und Deutschen gehörte auch das Menuett im 18. Jahrhundert zum Ballrepertoire. Wir werden die gesellige Form des Menuett, das Menuet en huit und Menuet en quatre nach Georg Link, 1796, tanzen.

Begleitet wird der Abend live bzw. von CD mit Tanzmusik-Kompositionen von W.A. Mozart und E.Chr. Fricke.

Verena Brunner, Salzburg, Österreich

Studium der Musik- und Tanzpädagogik am Mozarteum Salzburg. Zahlreiche Weiterbildungen im Bereich Historischer Tanz und Folkloretänze. Mitarbeit im Arbeitkreis für Historischen Tanz vom Deutschen Bundesverband Tanz. Seit 1985 Lehrerin am Musikum Salzburg für Blockflöte und Tanz. Fachgruppenleiterin für den Bereich  elementare Musikpädagogik und Tanz. Leitung von Lehrerfortbildungen und Tanzseminaren für Historische Tänze, Folkloretänze, Tanzen mit Kindern und Musisch-kreativen Familienfreizeiten in Deutschland (u.a. Burg Rothenfels) und Österreich. Gestaltung von Tanzfesten, Entwicklung und Durchführung von Kulturprojekten für Kinder und Erwachsene, „Leben wie ein Fürst“, Historisches Fest für Kinder und Erwachsene in der Residenz Salzburg, Schülerprogramme, z.B: „Ein Fest bei Mozarts mit Tanz und Musik“. Veröffentlichungen: „Spielpläne“, Musikbuch für Gymnasien in Bayern und Österreich, Mitautorin für den Bereich Tanz. „Tanzen mit Mozart“ Buch und CD mit Tanzbeschreibungen aus Quellen des 18. Jahrhunderts, Fidula-Verlag, 2001

“What’s new, Henry?“ Countrydances aus Henry Playfords Sammlungen um 1690
(Philippe Callens)

The dance evening will feature English country dances from the last quarter of the 17th century, a period of transition and change. Most of the period is dominated by Henry Playford who having taken over his father’s business published the 8th till the 12th edition of The Dancing Master (1690-1703). Those editions contain several new stylistic features which we will explore during the evening.

Philippe Callens (Antwerp, Belgium):

Philippe Callens is known internationally as a leader of English country dance which he has been teaching for 25 years. In 1988 he started a monthly country dance series in Mortsel (near Ant­werp). That series is now in its sixteenth season. Over the past fifteen years he has also frequently taught in the Netherlands and at dance weekends in England, Denmark, Germany, Switserland and the Czech Republic. Especially in the United States he has gained a reputation as a very competent leader of English country dance; he has been on staff at week long courses at Pinewoods, Mendocino, Brasstown and Buffalo Gap. Philippe is also a choreographer of modern English country dances. He has published two volumes of them and an accompanying CD called Red Star Line.

The Marlborough Connection: the War of the Spanish Succession remembered in the early eighteenth-century English country dance
(Philippe Callens)

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) was fought in present-day Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The Great Alliance formed by England, Austria and the Dutch Republic against the Franco-Bavarian coalition proofed to be successful in a series of military events till 1709, most notably at Blindheim/Höchstädt, Ramillies and Oudenaarde. English commander John Churchill, duke of Marlborough, played an important role in these victories that brought him lasting fame. In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht ended the war which greatly altered the balance of power in Europe and so influenced the international political situation until the French Revolution. It doubtlessly marked the rise of the British empire.

It is intriguing to notice how the War of the Spanish Succession influenced cultural life and the arts in England during and shortly after that period. Abundant traces can be found in literature, theatre, music and dance, especially country dance. In the first two decades of the century London music publisher John Young continued to publish new editions of The Dancing Master and also brought out a ‘Volume the Second’. John Walsh began to publish collection of country dances as well and would soon take the initiative in publishing the new dances. The topicality of the War of the Spanish Succession is strongly reflected in the titles of some forty new country dances published by both Young and Walsh between 1706 and 1719.

The dance evening will begin with an orientation on the subject as described above. This will lead to the teaching and the execution of the selected dances.

Philippe Callens, Antwerpen, Belgien:

Philippe Callens (1962) has been teaching English country dancing for nearly thirty years. He ran a monthly class in his native Antwerp (Belgium) from 1988 till 2005. He has also taught in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and often appears as a guest teacher in the USA and England. He has published three books and a CD. At the 1. Rothenfelser Tanzsymposion he led a workshop on country dances published by Henry Playford and and evening with the choreographies of Thomas Bray. Philippe works as an arts librarian for the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.

Véronique Daniels: Le Gratie d'Amore (1602) - Einstudierung einfacher Choreographien für verschiedene Besetzungen von Cesare Negri

"New from France": Cotillons in Georgian London
(Anne Daye)

In contrast to the English country dance, the contredanse française or cotillon always had a strong French character even when composed by English masters. The numerous publications from c.1770 to c.1815 in London, Bath, Cambridge and Norwich are testimony to the popularity of this creative and sociable form throughout the Napoleonic Wars. Superseded by the quadrille, the cotillon had established many of the figures of the square set. It was danced by Jane Austen who noted in one of her last letters thanking her niece Fanny for the gift of a music book: ‘Much obliged for the Quadrilles which I am grown to think pretty enough, though they are very inferior to the Cotillions of mine own day’. Cotillon balls were a feature of the assembly room programmes, with inventive figures, delightful steps and charming music.

The cotillons will include: L’Entrée du Bal by Nicholas Lemaire 1773, Les Ombre Chinois by Thomas Budd c. 1780, Lison Dormoit by Francis Werner 1780

Anne Daye, Bedford, Grossbritannien:

Dr. Anne Daye is an experienced teacher and dance leader. Her core research both practical and theoretical concerns the Renaissance dance culture of the Elizabethan and Stuart courts, leading to a doctoral thesis on the Jacobean masque. Her interest in dancing in England then continues with the country dance in the 18th and 19th centuries, with a special focus on the dancing scene of Jane Austen’s world. Anne is Director of Education and Research for the Historical Dance Society.

Notturno Italiano - un ballo a palazzo. At the court of Ferdinand IV and Maria Carolina Asburgo-Lorena
(Letizia Dradi)

In Naples at the court of Ferdinand IV Bourbon, known as "il re nasone", the King Big Nose, Giacomo Casanova was passed, resides Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton, an actress and dancer who becomes a great friend of Maria Caroline Asburgo, the Austrian queen. A cosmopolitan court, but the king prefers the common people to the nobility and he prefers to hunt rather than going to the theater or to the sumptuous gala. During the balls at the royal palace the guests gamble, eat and drink. The contredanses and minuets are the prerogative of the queen. In charge of the dances composition is the great Gennaro Magri, name-called Gennariello. Left Naples young to go to dance in the great court of Vienna, after having danced all over Italy returns home where he published his precious treatise in 1779. His Contraddanze not resemble anything, like a rich rococo frieze, agile and intricate at the same time. On Saturday evening we will dance together with the fashion of the court of Naples, contredanses in Italian, English and French style, with a hint of Austrian character.

Letizia Dradi, Mailand, Italien:

Dancer and choreographer she began studying ancient dance in 1992. She studied Musical Paleography and Philology at the University of Cremona. She choreographed and danced in Europe, Asia and America with severals early music groups as La Petite Bande S. Kujiken, Le Concert des Nations J. Savall, Dowland Consort of J. Lindberg and Norsk Barokkorkester Oslo. She has presented his researchs at the Society of Dance History Scholars (United States), Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society (London), Vaganova Academy (Russia). She is very active in teaching dance from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century in the Conservatives and Music Schools.

Quadrilles and Contredanses at the time of the Unification of Italy
(Maria Cristina Esposito)

"L'occhio naturale, la bocca ridente, le mani innocenti, i piedi ambiziosi..."
("Artless eye, mouth smiling, innocent hands, feet ambitious...")

In Teramo's Provincial Library (Abruzzo, Southern Italy) four booklets of Quadrilles and Contredanses are kept: Nouveau recueil de contredanses françaises composées par Mr Antoine Mennilli, 1855; Noveau recueil de contredanses à l'usage moderne avec des annotations en italien, 1863 (a reissue of the first in substance); Abrégé de nouvelles règles aux amateurs de danse, 1875; Abrégé de contredanses, 1892. Their author, Antoine Mennilli, refers to himself as "maître de danse au Collège National de Teramo". The first two booklets display specific technical instructions, while the other two take for granted the knowledge of the main steps and figures, which are standardized, and present rules of social behavior with notions of dance for dames and gentlemen - we'll dance figures a huit, a douze, a seize, a vingt-quatre. Instructions about the music are not contained; probably these dances were accompanied by the music of the Collège National music teacher, M° Alfonso Cipollone. With the Seize Contre-danses Françaises à Seize pour les Amateurs de Danse du Maître François De Sanctis (Chieti, 1868), these booklets represent an example of documents about the provincial bourgeoisie's social dance in the Southern Italy at the time of the Unification of Italy (1861).

Maria Cristina Esposito, Chieti, Italien:

Degree in Greek and Latin Literature at the University of Chieti (Italy), she studied ballet at the National Academy of Dance (Rome), dedicating herself to the study of historical dance later. She directed the Early dance Course of the Historical Festival "Giostra Cavalleresca di Sulmona" (1994-2013), and coordinated the Dance laboratory of the Marrucino Theatre in Chieti (1998-2006), where she choreographed for opera productions. Member of AIRDanza (Rome) and the CID-Unesco (Paris), she participated in international conferences on research into dance in Italy, Spain, France. 

All-involving dances of late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy
(John Gardiner-Garden)

In several late 16th- and early 17th-century Italian dance manuals there are dances that were described as able to involve as many participants as were willing. Most of these dances appear to have been particularly popular, well-known, much-varied and long-lived. Most appear to have been enjoyed in the later less formal part of a ball (just as less formal country dances were enjoyed after minuets, cotillions and allemandes in the late 18th century, and dance games or a promiscuous 'finishing dance' were enjoyed after the more formal polonaises, quadrilles andcouples dances in the mid-19th century). Some were dances for fixed numbers that were so popular as to warrant being danced by multiple couples or sets at the same time (for example Barriera and Furioso). Some were for as-many-couples-as-will in a single or double circle (e.g. Contrapasso, Villanico and Fedeltà). Some were collections of figures in longways sets for as many-as-will (e.g. Chiaranzana, Catena d'Amore, and Cacciad'Amore). Some were 'relay-mixers' that would draw dancers on and off the floor (e.g. Piantone and Ballo del Fiore). We will enjoy versions of nearly all the dances here named in a quick moving playful evening.

John Gardiner-Garden, Yarralumla, Australien:

Dr John Gardiner-Garden has studied/researched/performed and taught historical dancingof all eras for more than 25 years. He has led and played for dancing at over 1000 events, produced 12 dance books and 8 dance CDs. He is the director of the Earthly Delights Historical Dance Academy that runs regular classes, balls and festivals in Canberra, Australia. He has guest taught around Australia, North America and Europe, and will shortly before this symposium release a new multi-volume study of historical dance from 1400 to 1900. He's accompanied by his wife Aylwen, a respected historical costumer.

Der Figurenländler des 18. Jahrhunderts
(Ingo Günther)

Verschiedene Formen und Namen sind für diesen Tanz gebräuchlich: Ländler - Steyrischer - Straßburger - Allemande u.a. Zur Musik von Mozart, Beethoven und Schubert werden einige Figuren erarbeitet und zur eigenen Improvisation bereitge­stellt.

Ingo Günther, Berlin, Deutschland:

Studium der Fächer Schulmusik (Wahlfach Rhythmik und Stiltanz), Komposition und Musiktheorie, Anglistik und Gitarre. Dozent an der HdK Berlin (UdK) 1976-1996. Höherer Schuldienst 1976-2011. Leiter des BarockTanzEnsembles contretem(p)s berlin. Derzeit freischaffend tätig als Lehrer, Forscher und Tänzer auf dem Gebiet des historischen Tanzes , Schwerpunkt: 18. Jahrhundert.

American Ball Dances from the turn of the 19th C.
(Alan Jones)

The evening will begin with longways dances featuring music and figures by Pierre Landrin Duport, from his United States Country Dances ("The New Hampshire Allemande," "The Massachusetts Hop"), continuing with one or two of his cotillions.

Alan Jones, Paris, Frankreich:

Alan Jones is an American dance historian based in Paris. After performing as a Baroque dancer in the United States and Europe, he is presently working on a book concerning ballet and pantomime in the United States from 1785 to 1812. His first book, Dictionnaire du désir de la bonne chère (Honoré Champion, 2011), concerned culinary history in the eighteenth century.

Alan Jones: Spanish Minuet Improvisation

Alan Jones's evening dance class ‘Improvisation in the Spanish Minuet’ will focus on the minuet as described in the treatises of Minguet and Ferriol, including various beaten ornaments and Z figures composed of five or seven minuet steps. Most important, students will explore subtle partnering techniques in order to experience the "common" minuet not as a fixed piece of choreography but as a  spontaneous dance. Accompaniment will include anonymous Spanish minuets and pieces by Lully that were current in Spain.

Alan Jones, Paris, France:

Alan Jones is an American dancer and researcher based in Paris. In addition to his work in French Baroque he has realized several productions based on Spanish sources for the New York Baroque Dance Company (El Sarao de Venus), Ex Machina (Venid, venid deidades) and the Artek ensemble (El Baile de los Reyes). He has also interpreted the repertory of Esquivel Navarro as a concert soloist in Mexico and Spain with the ensemble Euterpe, and performed jota ara­gonesa and escuela bolera, a style that he is particularly devoted to, with José Greco and the Boston Flamenco Ballet.

Budapest, Kairo, Peking – unterwegs mit Dubreil und Delpêch
(Jørgen Schou-Pedersen, Uwe Schlottermüller)

Mit Jean Pierre Dubreuil und Louis François Delpêch begeben wir uns auf eine Tanzreise und erkunden Choreographien, die exotische Namen tragen wie La Hongroise, L’Egyptienne, La Meditation de Chinois, La Moresque... Die Tänze von Dubreil entstanden 1718 für Max Emanuel von Bayern, diejenigen von Delpêch gut 50 Jahre später für den Electeur de Saxe in Dresden. Einige dieser Contredanses werden an diesem Abend erarbeitet und ihre (vermuteten?) exotischen Elemente zur Diskussion gestellt.

Uwe Schlottermüller, Freiburg, Deutschland:

Uwe Schlottermüller studierte Musikwissenschaft und Volkskunde in Freiburg (Brsg.). Beschäftigung mit Historischem Tanz seit 1978; Forschungen, Entdeckungen und Editionen auf dem Gebiet des Gesellschaftstanzes aus verschiedenen Jahrhunderten. Eigene Programme und Auftritte mit der Tanzgruppe Meersburg und der Freiburger Gruppe piedi ne(g)ri.  

Jørgen Schou-Pedersen, Kopenhagen, Danmark:

Jørgen Schou-Pedersen (b. 1952) studied the Science of Music at the University of Copenhagen. He has studied the history of dance with many of the leading experts and  has also researched the primary sources in this  field himself. He carries the teaching certificate from The Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society where he is now a teacher. He also teaches historical dance at the National Theatre School and the Royal Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He has given courses in many European countries, choreographed for stage, film and TV, and  runs three performing dance groups.

European Ballroom Dances of the second quarter of the 19th century
(Barbara Menard-Pugliese)

Between the 1810s and the 1860s ballroom dance changed dramatically. At the beginning of the century triple minor country dances and quadrilles in two-couple sets were very common. After the introduction of the polka and the flat-footed German waltz, ballroom preferences began to favor turning couples dances and four-couple quadrilles. There was still a need for dances that "may be joined in by all the company present," so contra dances developed to meet the need.

A new form of contra dance appeared that involved couple facing couple in a large circle, often described as a circassian circle. Another contra dance style arranged the dancers in lines of side-by-side couples as in La Tempete.

We will teach dances that became popular in English and European ballrooms during the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. There will be marches, country dances, and contra dances and these will show a change from the triple minor set, where one out of three couples is more active than the others, to circassian circles and other formats, where all dancers are active all of the the time.

Barbara Menard-Pugliese, Medford, Massachusetts, USA:

Barbara Pugliese has been co-director of the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers since 2007. Founded in 1983, CVD specializes in reconstructing, teaching, and performing American ballroom dances of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. The dance company sponsored an international dance week in Newport, Rhode Island for 25 years, and are currently hosting seven formal balls a year as well as performing for museums and festivals. Barbara researches ballroom dances from 1770 to 1929, and is an expert in material culture and women's studies of the same time period. She has a Masters in Library and Information Science and has worked as an administrator for human rights charities and academic institutions.

Schou-Pedersen, Jørgen: Contredanses

'La Compagnie en bel ordre': französische Bransles des frühen 17. Jahrhunderts
(Nicoline Winkler)

Auswahl einiger Tänze aus der gängigen französischen Branlensuite 'simple, gay, de Poictou, Montirande, Gavotte' sowie Passepied de Bretaigne nach Beschreibungen von De Lauze/Montagut (1623) und aus der
"Instruction".

Nicoline Winkler (Heidelberg):

Studium der Romanistik/Anglistik (Sprachgeschichte), derzeit Leitung der Forschungsstelle „Altokzitanisches/Altgaskognisches Wörterbuch“ der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften. 1989 erste Erfahrungen mit historischer Tanzkultur und -praxis. Mitglied und Choreographin der Heidelberger Tanzgruppe SALTARELLO. Interessenschwerpunkt: Gesellschafts- und Bühnentanz des Frühbarock, umgesetzt in Masque- und frühe Opernproduktionen in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Ensemble für Alte Musik I CIARLATANI.