Renaissance Dances

Dancing was a favorite pastime in the Renaissance. Dancing was an elegent form of exercise and an expected social skill for the noble. (Franko, 37) There were basically two types of social dances in the Renaissance. The first type were simple dances that were performed by an unlimited number of people. These dances were usually performed in cirles or lines. The second type were more complex dances that required a dancing master and practice. These complex dances were usually performed for an audience. The important part of the 16th century dance was the footwork.

The dances in these manuals are extremely varied in nature. They range from slow, stately dances (bassadance, pavane, almain) to fast, lively dances (galliard, coranto, canario). The former, in which the dancers' feet did not leave the ground were styled the dance basse while energetic dances with leaps and lifts were called the haute dance. Some were choreographed, others were improvised on the spot. French painting of the volta, from Penhurst Place, Kent, often wrongly assumed to be of Elizabeth I.

One dance for couples, a form of the galliard called lavolta, involved a rather intimate hold between the man and woman, with the woman being lifted into the air while the couple made a 3/4 turn. Other dances, such as branles or bransles, were danced by many people in a circle or line.