Learning from Other Sources
- Miklos Sandorfia
- Lecture Room on Saturday at 4:00PM
Dance was an integral part of 16th century culture. Much of what we need to reconstruct it was left out of the dance treatises. Other sources provide much that is missing. Two fruitful groups of sources are discussed: Treatises on horsesmanship, and early dictionaries. Horsemanship provides insight into: terms in Lupi and Negri; undefined steps in Lupi's canary variations; practical information on aesthetics in movement; the origin of certain dance steps; surprising connections between dance and horse training, for example galliards for horses. Early dictionaries provide a wealth of contextual information. For example, names of dances; characteristics of dances; cultural connections for specific dances; connections between dance, revels, mummings, and plays; proverbs invoking dance; information on dance music, dance shoes, costuming.