Dolce Amoroso Foco

(Sweet Amorous Fire)

Balletto

Caroso, Il Ballarino

Longways for three couples

Intermediate


I	A	1-4	(Start facing partner) Riverenza		This ballo is to be performed by three men & three women: & the men stand at the head of the hall, & the women at the other in a line. They do together the Rivernza,	Qvesto Ballo ha da esser fatto da tre Huomini, & tre Dame: & standosi gli Huomini da un capo della Sala, & le Dame dall’altro per filo, faranno insieme la Riuerenza,
		5-8	2 Continenze left, right		with two Continenze;	con due Continenze;
		9-12	2 Ordinari on left, right; Mezza Riverenza (approaching partner)	Passeggio	then walking together, they do two Seguiti, & when they meet at the end of the second Seguito, they bend a little the knees, in the manner of a Mezza Riverenza,	poi passeggiando insieme, faranno due Seguiti, & nell’incontrarsi al fine del secondo Seguito, piegaranno un poco le ginocchia, à modo di mexa Riuerenza,
		13-16	Scorsi, turning left (changing places with partner)	Passeggio	& they change places.	& cambiando luogo.
	B	1-4	2 Ordinari on left, right; Mezza Riverenza; Touch right hands	Passeggio repeats	They do again the same Passeggio another time, & in the making of the Mezza Riverenza when they meet, they touch the right hand, & in the second Passeggio the left hand : Then returning all to the places where they began,	Il medesimo Passeggio tornaranno à fare un’altra volta, & nel far detta meza Riuerenza quando si incontraranno, si toccaranno la man destra, & al secondo Passeggio la sinistra : poi trouandosi tutti à i luoghi loro doue principarono,
		5-8	Scorsi, turning left (returning to starting place)	Passeggio repeats
		9-12	2 Continenze left, right		they do two Continenza,	faranno due Continenze,
		13-16	Riverenza		& the Riverenza facing.	& la Riuerenza incontro.

II	A	1-2	Men: 2 Sottopiede to left	SSRRT to left	The men only do two Sottopiedi to the left side, &	Gli Huomini soli faranno poi due Sottopiedi al fianco sinistro, &
		3-4	Men: 2 Mezze Riverenze on left		two Riverenze preste with the left, &	due Riuerenze preste col sinistro, &
		5	Men: Trabuchetto on left		a Trabuchetto to the said side,	un Trabuchetto al detto fianco,
		6	Men: Sottopiede to right	SRRT to right	another Sottopiede to the right side, &	un’altro Sottopiede al fianco destro, &
		7-8	Men: 2 Mezze Riverenze on right		two Riverenze preste with the right foot,	due Riuerenze preste col piè destro,
		9	Men: Trabuchetto on right		a Trabuchetto with the right foot to the said side;	un Trabuchetto col piè destro al detto fianco;
		10	Men: Sottopiede to left		then they do again another Sottopiede to the left side,	poi si torna à fare un altro Sottopiede al fianco sinistro,
		11-12	Men: 2 Fioretti forward		doing immediately two Fioretti forward,	facendo subito due Fioretti innanzi,
		13-14	Men: 2 Fioretti flanking back		& two more flanking back,	& due altri indietro fiancheggiati,
		15	Men: Trabuchetto on left		a Salto, or else a Trabuchetto with the left to the left side,	un Salto, ouero un Trabuchetto col sinistro al fianco sinistro,
		16	Men: Lower right foot; Jump to the right onto toes		lowering to the ground the right foot, & jumping with both feet to the right side lightly on the toes of the feet	calando in terra il piè destro, & saltando con ambedue i piedi al fianco destro in punta di piedi leggiermente.
	B	1-4	Women: 2 Spezzati on left flanking forward		The women do two Seguiti Spezzati flanking forward, &	Le Dame faranno due Seguiti spezzati fiancheggiati innanzi, &
		5-8	Women: 3 Trabuchetti left, right, left		three Trabuchetti; &	tre Trabuchetti; &
		9-12	Women: 2 Spezzati on right flanking backward		they do the same backward.	il medesimo faranno indietro.
		13-16	Women: 3 Trabuchetti right, left, right		they do the same backward.	il medesimo faranno indietro.

III	A	1-16	Women: Repeat II A	Optional, see note
	B	1-16	Men: Repeat II B	Optional, see note

IV	A	1-16	Circular hey, doing 8 Seguiti Ordinarii starting on left		They will do then this braid, as said in the Balletto called il Furioso; but always with the Seguiti Ordinarii, giving first the right hand, & then the left : & as they are at the head of the hall, they will give the said right hand, which they have let go, and continue hand in hand until every person has arrived at their place.	Faranno dopo ciò l’intrecciata, come s’è detto nel Balletto detto il Furioso; ma sempre con li Seguiti ordinarij, dando prima a la man destra, & poi la sinistra : & come si è in capo alla Sala, si ha da dare la detta man destra, che he lasciata, et fi segue di mano in mano sino che ogni persona sia arriuata al suo luogo.
	B	1-4	Men: Riverenza		Afterwards, the men will do the Riverenza to the women, &	Dopò gli Huomini faranno la Riuerenza alle Dame, &
		5-8	Women: Riverenza		they will do the same to the men.	esse faranno il medesimo à gli Huomini.
		9-12	2 Seguiti Ordinarii on left, right turning 360° to left		Finally they will do two Seguiti turning to the left, &	Finalmente faranno due Seguiti volti alla sinistra, &
		13-16	Riverenza		the Riverenza facing, meeting again each one in their place as they were situated at the beginning.	la Riuerenza all’incontro, ritrouandosi ogn’uno al suo luogo, come si trouauano nel principio.

Balletto to be performed by six		Balletto da farsi in sesto
In praise of the very magnificent Lady Marta Rampazetti		In lode della molto magnifica Madonna Marta Rampazetti
Perform to the same music as Passo e mezo		Farassi la medesima Sonata del Passo e mezo

Tabulated by Peter Durham based on the dance as reconstructed by Anna Mansbridge in January 2025. Transcribed from facsimile. Translation by Peter Durham.

Notes

Music. No music is provided alongside the dance in the source; instead, Il Ballarino instructs the reader to use the music for Passo e Mezo. My division of the music into A and B sections is not indicated in the source, but reflects the structure of the choreography.

Recordings. Two useful recordings are on Jeremy Barlow’s “Il Ballarino” (1987) (4 repeats) and Musica Subterranea’s “Cornucopia” (2000) (3 repeats). The Pennsic Pile includes a setting and says this dance requires 5 repeats of the tune.

Performance. A circular hey in a dance for 6 has 6 changes, but here we have 8 Seguiti. Dancers can either blend the 6 changes across the 8 Seguiti, or take the first Seguito to get ready for the initial change and the last one to align properly at the end, facing their partners.

Reconstruction. The text is a little confusing in that after saying “They do again the same Passeggio” it says “they touch the right hand, and in the second Passeggio the left hand” which indicates a different hand touch each time through the Passeggio, even though the same feet are used each time. For now I am following Anna's lead and only doing the hand touch during the second Passeggio.

Reconstruction. The source does not describe a repeat of II, but this is useful to fit the “Il Ballarino” recording. This section should be dropped if using music with 3 repeats.