Lauro

(Laurel)

Bassadanza

Guglielmo, De Pratica [FN]

Couples

Intermediate


I	A1	1-6	2 Sempii starting on left	Bassadanza, called Lauro, for two, composed by Lorenzo di Piero di Cosimo de Medici ¶ At first they do a continenza, and then two sempi	Bassa danza, chiamata Zauro, in due, composta per Lorenzo di Piero di Cosimo de' Medici ¶ In prima faccino una contenenza, e poi dua passi sciempi
		7-18	2 Doppii starting on left	and two doppi, beginning with the left foot;	e dua doppi, cominciando col piè manco;
		19-24	Riverenza	and then they do a riverenza on the left foot;	e poi faccino una riverenza in sul piè manco;
		25-36	2 Riprese left and right	and then they do two riprese, the first on the left foot and the second on the right foot;	e poi faccino due riprese, l'una in sul piè manco e l'altra in sul piè ritto;
	B1	1-6	2 Sempii starting on left	and then they do two sempi	e poi faccino dua passi sciempi
		7-12	Doppio on left	and one doppio, beginning on the left foot;	et uno doppio, cominciando col piè manco;
		13-18	Ripresa right	and then they do a ripresa on the right foot;	e poi faccino una ripresa in sul piè ritto;
		19-24	Continenze left and right	and then they do a continenza;	e poi faccino una contenenza;
		25-36	Take right hands with partner; Circle to left doing 2 Sempii and 1 Doppio starting on left	and then they take by the right hands and go around with two sempi and one doppio, beginning with the left foot;	e poi si piglino per la mano ritta e vadino tondi con dua passi sciempi et uno doppio, cominciando col piè manco;
		37-48	Take left hands; Circle to right doing 2 Sempii and 1 Doppio starting on right; Face up	and then they take by the left hands and go also around with two sempi and one doppio, beginning with the right foot, such that the man stands in his place of above;	e poi si piglino per la mano manca e vadino pure tondi con duo passi sciempi et uno doppio, cominciando col piè ritto, tanto che l'uomo resti al suo luogo di sopra;
		49-60	Riprese left and right	and then they do two riprese, the first on the left foot and the second on the right foot;	e poi faccino due riprese, l'una in sul piè manco e l'altra in sul piè ritto;
	C1	1-6	2 Sempii starting on left	and then they go together with two sempi	e poi vadino inseime con dua passi sciempi
		7-24	3 Doppii starting on left	and three doppi, beginning with the left foot;	e tre doppi, cominciando col piè manco;
		25-30	Turn, doing 2 Sempii starting on the right	and then they do the volta del gioioso, that is with two sempi, beginning with the right foot;	e poi faccino la volta del gioioso, cioè con dua passi sciempi, cominciando col piè ritto;
		31-36	Ripresa right	and then they do a ripresa on the right foot;	e poi faccino una ripresa in sul piè ritto
		37-42	Riverenza	and then they do a riverenza on the left foot;	e poi faccino una riverenza in sul piè manco;

II			Repeat I	It is finished; do it again another turn, and the woman goes before. ¶	Finita è: rifaccinla un'altra volta, e la donna vadia innanzi. ¶

Reconstruction by Peter and Janelle Durham, based on that of Ingrid Brainard. Text transcribed from 1968 Forni reprint of 1873 Zambrini transcription of FN. Translation by Peter Durham.

Notes

Reconstruction. Two versions begin with an opening continenza, and one omits this step. We have left it out in our reconstruction. In section B, two of the texts say dancers perform one continenza, and NY says 2 continenza. We have chosen 2 continenza so that they fill a full tempo of music.

Reconstruction. It's interesting that the dance ends with the instruction to repeat with the woman going before. Innanzi can mean before in either space or time. The time sense seems not to be relevant here, as the man does nothing before the woman in the first repeat; this could then either be a space reference (the repeat is done with the woman before the man, often meaning to his left), or a repeat instruction in habitual form as many dances do have alternating sequences. However, there are dances such as Jupiter where the instruction is to "perform another time the same."

Music. None of the sources which include instructions for Lauro have music associated with them. Most reconstructions follow the 1971 suggestion of Ingrid Brainard to use the "Tenore del Re di Spagna" from Cornazano, which is of the correct length.