Dancing
People in polite society did many things. Arching, Fighting, Brewing, Needlework, Hunting and Playing Music to name but a few. The one thing that all people in polite society did though was to dance. Especially in late period no person was considered well rounded unless they learnt to dance. A one hour meeting is probably wasted, though, if its sole intention is to teach dance steps. This sort of thing is left for regular dance classes. A better option is to teach one or two simple dances and give a history of dance in general.
Please note that I am a dance enthusiast, and not all the information I take for granted will be obvious to the person who has been roped in to holding a meeting on dance because they look like they know what they are doing.
Materials Required
- Dance Music and instructions (if you need them).
- Any copies of dance sources you can get your hands on.
- Pictures of people dancing (Both photos of SCA people and copies of period pictures with people dancing)
Meeting Outline
There are numerous ways to start this meeting, but I suggest with starting off by talking about the place of dance in Renaissance society. Some good sources for this are the dance books of the day such as Arbeau's Orchesography and Caroso's Il Balarino, where great pain is taken to point out the value of dancing to a young man or woman's education.
Follow up with an explanation of how these dances have come down to us, and give an account of the style the books are written in. As well as Caroso and Negri (the former being a wonderful case of a long winded noble) mention the scraps of paper that other dances survive on. It is also worth mentioning that although we know people did dances before 1400 and we know what the music was we still don't know how they were danced.
Next it is probably best to get on to some practical dancing. Something easy like the Known World Pavane (although it is an SCA invention) or The Earl of Essex Measure.
Possible Problems
You'll have to figure out how to deal with a small meeting room yourselves I'm afraid.
Other Options
Get out a source such as Playford or Caroso and see if people have any idea of how to construct it. This should only be done with people who have danced at least a bit before.
Describe how balls were held, such as that described in A Caroso-style ball.
Resources and References
Among the secondary sources (relatively) easily available are Caroso's "Nobilite di Dame", Arbeau's "Orchesography" and Playford's "Dancing Master". The latter may even be available as a primary source.
Webbed by Conrad Leviston. Please mail any suggestions/corrections/comments