15th Century Italian Dance

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32 15th Century Italian Dance24 SL Man onlySLLady only25 VtL Man does a full turn in three singlesteps, finishing with a small jump(saltetto).Part 5 (Piva): 26 - 28 VtL Lady does a slower and larger turn,doing three piva steps (PvL PvR PvL), tofinish facing the man. When she doesso, the man does another small jump.29 PvR Both moving towards each other30 SL slower single.31 M The lady makes a "movimento".32 PvR PvL Circling to each others right hand side.33 SR Single right, then resume place to startthe dance again.The dance can stop after one repetition, or can be repeated from the start.
15th Century Italian Dance 33PrexoneraPrexonera (or Presoniera) is a dance by Domenico. It first appeared in hismanuscript De Arte Saltandi et Choreas Ducti, in approximately 1450. Itwas learned and written up in a slightly different form by Guglielmo in DePratica seu Arte Tripudii.The title of the dance means “Prisoner”. The dance is for two people, oneman and one lady. In this dance the lady and man take turns incapturing each other and holding each other prisoner. I take the opinionthat the dance would most probably have been done as a performancedance -- the actions of the dancers are a play as much as they are adance.I have attempted to reconstruct the dance in a slightly different manner tothe way in which most dance reconstructions are done. Rather thanfollowing the master’s instructions to the letter, I have deliberately misreconstructedthe dance in the manner that it could possibly have beendone by a pair of young dance students of the time.Improvisation was still used fairly heavily in dancing in the 15th Century-- Domenico and Cornazano both offer chapters on body movement andmanner, but also indicate that variations of their mannerisms were incommon practice at the time they are writing (partly, in admonishing thereader against these manners that are in error, the masters admit thatthey are in common practice).In this reconstruction, I have taken Domenico’s description of the dance,which basically includes feet movement only, and added some body andhand movements that emphasise the play-acting nature of the dance. Ihave enhanced the third figure of the dance, which would otherwise be astraightforwards piva sequence with the dancers moving side by side, intoa game of cat-and-mouse, or more correctly, captor and prisoner.In doing this, the dancers appear to be acting in a manner to be againstsome of Guglielmo’s teachings -- in particular his “Rules for Women” 12 .Perhaps the more experienced (and older, and more demure) dancers ofGuglielmo’s class would not have done the dance in this fashion, but someof the younger participants just might.The result is, I hope, a dance that although it disobeys some of theinstructions laid out by Guglielmo and Domenico, is a feasibleinterpretation of how the dance could have been done as an entertainmentpiece in the period.Figure 1This openingsequence, in 6/4 time(bassadanza) is areasonably straightforwards bassa danzasection, done movingforwards into thecenter of the dancefloor.(A) 1 CnL CnR The dancers start by facing forwards, tothe presence. They then do twocontinenze, left then right.2 - 3 SL SR SL Three singles, left, right, left4 DR Double Right5 RvL Riverenza on the left foot6 - 10 CnL CnRSL SR SLDRRvLRepeat the above to the repeat of themusic.12 Guglielmo, “De Pratica seu Arte Tripudii”, translated by Barbara Sparti (Oxford: OUP, 1993).
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15th Century Italian Dance

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