Primary Dance Sources

Fifteenth Century

• PnD - Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, f. Ital. 972: Two Suggestions on the Transcription

Choreographies

Burgundian

• Burgundian Dance in the Late Middle Ages from the Library of Congress, including digitized images of Les Basses danses de Marguerite d'Autriche.

Italian

Descriptions of Dancing

Italian

• Magliabechiana Cod. XXV, 24, Florence, 1459. Transcribed by Giuseppe Tartini.
• Magliabechiana Cod. VII, 1121, Florence, 1459. Transcribed by Joseph Casazza.
• Bibl. Estense, Cod. ital. n. 521, the "festa del Paradiso" of January 13, 1490. Transcribed by Edmondo Solmi.

Sixteenth Century

Choreographies

Italian

• The "Il Papa" Manuscript (New York Public Library, Performing Arts Research Center, Dance Collection, (S) *MGZMB-Res. 72-255, Manoscritto di balletti composti da Giovannino e Il Lanzino e Il Papa; scritto da Cosimo Ticcio. [155-?] [27] p. (26-31 lines) 29 cm. (f.) Cia Fornaroli Collection. NN 72-7014766). Transcribed by Joseph Casazza and Elizabeth Cain.
• Fabritio Caroso. Il Ballarino.Venice: Apresso Francesco Ziletti, 1581. Transcription by Greg Lindahl.
• Prospero Lutii, Opera Bellissima... di Gagliarda, Perugia, 1589. Transcribed by Joseph Casazza.
• Renaissance Dance from the Library of Congress, including digitized images of Cesare Negri's Nuove inventioni di balli [1604], and Fabritio Caroso's Il ballarino [1581] and Nobiltà de dame [1600].

French

• Renaissance Dance from the Library of Congress, including digitized images of Thoinot Arbeau's Orchesography [1589].

English

• Practise for Dauncinge Some Almans and a Pavan, England 1570-1650: A Manual for Dance Instruction by Patri J. Pugliese and Joseph Casazza.

Dance Music

• Music for the Dances in Arbeau's Orchesography, a book on musical concordances, by Joseph Casazza. Includes links to settings by Joseph Casazza of Arbeau's tunes for which no 16th century settings exist.
• Jean d'Estrée's Books of Dance Music. Transcribed by Joseph Casazza.
• Music for the Old Measures. Set, edited, or composed by Joseph Casazza.

Seventeenth Century

Choreographies

English

• The Dancing Master, 1651-1728: An Illustrated Compendium by Robert M. Keller. For this publication every dance was reduced to a code enabling comparison with similar dances. The unique or "Ur" dances were identified and collected into a database where each dance's printing history and other information is summarized and a facsimile of the dance and its music is included. The Index presents every item by title with links to the Ur Dance Index. The Title/Link takes the reader to a bibliography of the sources. Searches can be made on all text entries as well as on the dance coding to find instances of specific dance figures in juxtaposition with others.
• Practise for Dauncinge Some Almans and a Pavan, England 1570-1650: A Manual for Dance Instruction by Patri J. Pugliese and Joseph Casazza.
• John Playford, The English Dancing Master, 1651

Dance Music

• Music for the Old Measures. Set, edited, or composed by Joseph Casazza.

Other Renaissance Dance Pages

• Rendance.Org by Andrew Draskóy.
• Western Social Dance: An Overview of the Collections from the Library of Congress.

Last Update: May 15, 2015