Proceedings of the Known World Dance Symposium 2007

Contents | Event home

 

Sunday Caroso Ball

 

What we’re trying to do here

Say “ball” today, and we think of a large room filled with people dancing. High society in late sixteenth century Italy didn’t do it that way. Instead, the ballroom would be full of chairs, with only a small space left clear for dancing. Guests spent most of the ball sitting (gentlemen on one side, ladies on the other) and watching, as guests took turns to dance, one couple or one set at a time. Some guests danced, and others preferred to watch only. This session is not a performance, it is a dance party run using an adaptation of this format (a formal social occasion that is also an improvised series of improvised micro-performances) and a repertoire drawn from reconstructions of Renaissance social dances. If the dances on our playlist are familiar to you, you are welcome to take a place in the dancers’ area – and take your chances with the rest of us as to whether your partner, or the musicians, know the same version of the dance that you do!

How it works

By gathering at the edge of the dance floor, you declare your interest in being asked to dance. Gentlemen sit or stand on the left side (as you face the head of the hall) and ladies on the right. If you want to watch only, please observe from further away from the dance floor.

If you wish to dance, please study the playlist, and have a choice in mind for when it’s your turn to choose. You can choose a dance that’s been done already if you want to, but please choose your partner from those who have not yet chosen a dance.

When it is your turn, first invite a partner, and choose a dance. (If your chosen partner doesn’t know your preferred dance, quickly agree on an alternate.) Then tell the maestro del ballo what piece you want, so he can tell the musicians. If the dance is for a set, also invite the appropriate number of additional dancers of your partner’s gender, these will then find their own partners to fill out the set. The maestro del ballo will then announce the dance, and invite the company at large to join in if the dance is “for as many as will” – else the single couple or single set dances it alone. Your partner then gets the next turn to choose, and so it continues.

Etiquette and additional background notes

You ought to bow when inviting someone to dance, and also after finishing a dance, if it doesn’t include a bow to your partner as the final figure. 

This format needs a pretty fast pace to be successful (no one likes watching people mill around), so please think ahead. If you intend to ask someone you don’t know well to dance something difficult and obscure, have an easier selection ready as a backup. Caroso expected the chooser of a set dance to invite all dancers for the set; I use the convention specified above because it’s a bit faster, and also a bit easier for a chooser who doesn’t know many of the other dancers.

Yes, the ‘chooser’s partner gets the next choice’ is the way Caroso expected a dance party to work, so ladies in period did ask gentlemen to dance! Caroso also expected that some people never got invited to dance, and others got repeated invitations. We’d rather that as many people as possible get a chance, and we have a limited time for this ball, so please try to keep track of who’s already chosen a dance, and invite a partner who hasn’t chosen yet.

My use of location/proximity to the dance floor to identify those who wish to dance is an adaptation. Caroso says that ladies who want to watch, only, should keep their mantles on, and implies that of course all gentlemen are always willing to dance, though the eager ones crowd forward to the edge of the dance floor.

A Caroso-style ball is part social occasion, and part informal performance. Please enjoy your opportunity to dance something you like, on an uncrowded dance floor, perhaps with a favorite partner. But also remember that your turn to choose a dance is also your opportunity to display your dancing skill, grace, poise, good manners, handsome garb, etc. for the admiration of your friends. Your walk across the floor to choose your partner is the entrance for your performance – make the most of it! And if the idea of performing has you a bit spooked, remember that you’re performing for a friendly audience, eager to be pleased, and generous with mistakes – and that even the simplest English country dances are quite beautiful to watch.

Adapted from KWDS 4 description by Meredith Courtney (Mara Kolarova)

Available dances

Dance

Formation

Bassedanse (Burgundian, 1445 – 1538)

 

Beaulte de Castille

Procession of couples

Danse de Cleves

Procession of couples

La Dame

Procession of couples

La Francoise Nouvelle

Procession of couples

Le Moi de May

Procession of couples

Balli and bassadanzi from Domenico (Italian, 1455 – 1510)

Amoroso 

Couple(s)

Belfiore

Triple(s)

Gioioso in tre

Triple(s)

Lauro

Couple(s)

Lioncello Vecchio

Couple(s)

Mercanzia

3 men, 1 woman

Petit Riense

Triple(s)

Rostiboli Gioioso 

Couple(s)

Sobria

5 men, 1 woman

Dances from John Banys’ notebook, the “Gresley MS” (~1500)

Pernes en Gre

Couple(s)

Ly Bens Distonys

Couple(s)

Dances from Thoinot Arbeau’s Orchesography (French, 1589)

Branles: Cass, Pin, Charl, War, Aridan

Dancers in a line or circle

Branle Suite: Double, Single, Burgundian

Dancers in a line or circle

Hermit's Branle

Dancers in a circle

Horses Branle

Longways for as many

Jouissance vous Donnerai

Procession of couples

Pavan

Procession of couples

Pease Branle

Couples in a circle

Washerwomen's Branle

Couples in a circle

Galliard / Volta

Individuals or couples

Balli from Caroso and Negri (Italian, 1581 – 1604)

Ballo del Fiore

Dancers around room

Ballo del Fiore for 3

Triple(s)

Bizzaria d'Amore

Square of 2 couples

Celeste Giglio

Couple(s), facing each other

Contrapasso in Due

Couple(s)

Gracca Amorosa

Couple(s), facing each other

Il Canario

Couple(s)

La Castellana

Couple(s)

Old Measures (English, 1570 – 1675)

 

Black Alman

Procession of couples

Lorayne Alman

Procession of couples

Madam Sosilia Alman

Procession of couples

New Alman

Procession of couples

Queens Alman

Procession of couples

Country Dances from Playford (English, 1651)

An Old Man is  Bed Full of Bones

Longways for 3 or 4 couples

Aye Me (The Symphony)

Longways for 4 couples

Dargason

Longways for 4 couples

Gathering Peascods

Circle of couples

Greenwood

For six

Hearts Ease

Square of 2 couples

If all the world were paper

Circle of 4 couples

Jenny Pluck Pears

Circle of 3 couples

Kemp's Jegg

Circle of 3 couples

Lord of Caernavon's Jig

Longways for 4 couples

Lord of Carnarvan’s Jegg

Longways for 4 couples

Mill-Field

Longways for 4 couples

Newcastle

Circle of 4 couples

Old Mole

Longways for 3 couples

Prince Rupert's March

Longways for 4 couples

Row Well ye Mariners

Longways for 4 couples

Rufty Tufty

Square of 2 couples

Upon a Summer's Day

Longways for 3 couples

Whirligig

Longways for 3 couples