Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Renaissance Dance and Choreography

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Fabrito Caroso
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Fabrito Caroso

Rhetoric tacens, or mute rhetoric, was significant in all areas of Renaissance art. Indeed, silent rhetoric, influenced by the views of Quintilian and other classical rhetoricians, influenced all aspects of Renaissance society, including dance: the "eloquent body". Masques were an example of an early form of court dance. Click to see. How were dance and choreography influenced by rhetoric? Is there a relationship between the designs of palatial gardens, dance, choreography and Renaissance social class structure? Rhetoric in dance.

Misura (measure) was a technical term based upon "proportion", meaning aerial as well as terrestrial space around the dancer's body and on the dance floor. Proportion emphasized views of Classical philosophy such as those of Aristotle, that the mean, not extremes, were to be emphasized. Thus dance motion was not to be too fast, nor too slow, music not too loud nor too soft, etc. The full impact of avoiding extremes cannot be over-emphasized, as this was also the ideology of the aristocracy. Peasants or other low-class people, according to the aristocratic codes, could not avoid gross, crude extremes not only in behavior but in dance as well. Dance was a significant aspect of the aristocratic ideology. Thus the movement of the dancer was a language that identified class allegiance, and class sensitivities: aristocratic privilege was based on this language. "... a person's character was revealed by deportment and gestures..." and "The character of everyone is made known by the dance." The vocabulary of dance included such technical terminology as: 1, 2
"Dance was an ordering of movements of the human body that was concordant with the proportioning of the music that accompanied it." Misura was based on proportions found in music (the harmony of the Pythagorean sect) that simultaneously applied to dance, courtly behavior, and to the universe itself. Thus there were four kinds of "misura": 2, 4 See mensuration
  1. bassadanza misura
  2. piva misura Harmonic ratio 1:2
  3. saltarello misura Harmonic ratio 2:3
  4. quaternaria misura Harmonic ratio 3:4
Antonio Cornazzano referred to the image of a ladder that is of narrow width at the top, widening towards the ground. The rungs of this ladder are of different lengths, that are the proportions found in misura.

Courtesy Books: Aristocratic Behavior in Dance 3

Of course, the gestures found in dance (mute, corporeal rhetoric) were also related to the gestures found in the mute rhetoric of Cicero and Quintilian. These gestures included not only body motions, but facial expressions, hand and foot movement, manner of walking, dress costume. When Quintilian referred to variety of vocal tone in textual rhetoric, this was also extended to variety of dance steps. Alberti applied variety in color, number and arrangement of figures in paintings. Thus "maniera": "... picture of the movement of a gondola which, pushed by two oars over the little waves of a quiet sea, rises slowly and falls quickly" and maniera "... a rising and falling movement of the body...", the aristocrats' detachment from expressing passions such as anger, never to express extremes. Dancers' motions were not to be extreme (like that of a peasant). 4

Following Cicero and Quintilian, and then the humanists, the dance masters also paid particular attention to the carriage of the head.
Thus Thoinot Arbeau, in his Orchesographie:
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"But above all, learned men maintain that the dance is a kind of mute rhetoric [Rhetorique muette] through which the Orator can, by his movements, without uttering a single word, make himself understood and persuade spectators that he is spirited [gaillard] and worthy of being praised, loved and cherished. Is it not in your opinion a discourse that he profers for himself, with his own feet, in a demonstrative genre?" 4

It was important that those in the social elite carry themselves so that their head neither hung low on their chests, nor tilted up, with the chin in the air. It should be held level at all times, with young ladies especially remembering to keep their eyes, but not their heads, modestly lowered. Thus the aristocrat is his gestures. 5 An accurate description of courtier society may be found in "The Book of the Courtier", by Baldesar Castiglione. "... didactic literature on social behavior acted as a text of reference for all social acts." Indeed, "... dance was an ideological extension of civility." 6

What is choreography? Choreo means dance, graphics means writing or drawing. Thus choreographcs means "dance notation".7

Choreography as a subject evolved. This evolution was quite natural. Choreography developed as a notational system, and over time, different aspects of what was expected of such a notational system changed. In the beginning, movements of the feet were emphasized. Later, movement of arms, hands, body, etc. became increasingly important, and coordinating dance movement with music became increasingly important. Although the interest here is with Renaissance (or possibly Baroque or Classical) music and dance, a cursory examination of an important 19th century (non Renaissance) choreographic system is instructive. The system is that of Vladimir Stepanov, 1866 - 1896. 8

Some choreographic systems model foot or body movements and describe these motions with an alphabet or diagrams, while other systems of choreography model choreographic motions with a system similar to music. Stepanov's choreographic system was modeled upon music. Stepanov used a system based upon a "music-like" staff composed of nine lines, aggregated into three parts. The first part was for head and body motion (a 2-line staff), the second part was for arm motions (a 3-line staff), and the third part was for leg motions (a 4-line staff). Click here to get an idea of what a system of choreography actually looks like.

Examining Stepanov's system of choreography, we get an idea of the kinds of dance motions that are deemed important, and how these motions might be supported (how the choreography is written, what was the music that accompanied the dancers, and how were the dance motions were coordinated with the music). However, intricate foot motions (caprioles) and intricate hand movements (constituting a gestural language in some Asian countries) might require a choreography that is far more complex. Furthermore, intricate "geometries" of dancers that moved in complicated patterns were also characteristic of the Renaissance, and only some systems of choreography deal with such geometric ensembles on stage. This discussion is limited to the Renaissance, thus Western Europe at a specific time period. Lastly, only a few systems of choreography have been preserved, and their descriptions are very limited.

Two Systems of Renaissance Choroeography

Letter Code Choreography
Feuillet's Choreography

Dance and choreography were well integrated into the society of Renaissance courtesy codes. However, dance required music, thus the music that accompanied dance, along with customary Renaissance views about costume, must also be examined. Was rhetoric tacens a part of music and did music support the political ideologies that existed in Renaissance societies?

Renaissance Gardens and Choroeography

Renaissance Gardens and Choroeography

To get some idea of what Renaissance and Baroque dance was like, click here. This examination of Renaissance and Baroque dance has many facets which will not be discussed here. However, it should be noted that with the Black Plague of 1347 as well as other occurences such as Justinian's Plaque in 541-542 A.D., dance was intimately involved. Specifically, in choreomania, as well as the mystical geometric displays of the Flagellants as they marched in formation of the Cross.

1 "The Platonic Theory of Ethos in Fifteenth-Century Italian Court Dance", Jennifer Nevile, Literature and Aesthetics, vol. 3, 1993, p. 49
2 "The Eloquent Body: Dance and Humanist Culture in Fifteenth-Century Italy", Jennifer Nevile, Indiana Univ. Press, 2004, pp. 78-88
3 "Ut Pictura Poesis: The Humanistic Theory of Painting", Rensselaer W. Lee, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1967, pp. 35-41
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"Decorum" was an all-embracing ideology of an aristocratic European society: one was to "... have due regard for the dignity or lowliness of things, for instance in the depiction of a scene at court wherin the beard, mien, and habit of the king must have a becoming dignity, and a like appropriateness must appear among the courtiers and the bystanders according to the loftiness or humbleness of their position ...".
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Just as an aristocrat must be depicted as "perfection", in like manner, a peasant must be depicted in his/her "imperfection", Jews must be depicted as being immoral or dirty, etc. "Decorum" is an ideology, and as such applies everywhere including dance, laws limiting clothing permitted to different strata of society and laws limited to different strata concerning "criminal acts". (There are regulations concerning aristocrats being 'humiliated' as a consequence of criminal acts, etc: fueros existed and must be applied in Iberia, similarly in England, and other countries.)
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In reality, the view that only those of noble birth can dance should be understood as a version of "racial" ideology (superior vs inferior 'breed'). "... noble movement is inborn and bred, and cannot be a subject for imitation." Thus "Tahureau uses a sequence of animal metaphores and puns to describe the clumsiness his dancer's legs. They are those of a calf, a goat and a hare...". See McGowan, Margaret M.; "Dance in the Renaissance: European Fashion, French Obsession", Yale Univ. Press, 2008, p. 25.
4 "The Eloquent Body: Dance and Humanist Culture in Fifteenth-Century Italy", Jennifer Nevile, Indiana Univ. Press, 2004, p. 88
5 "The Dancing Body in Renaissance Choreography", Mark Franko, Summa Publications, Birmingham, Alabama, 1986, p. 14
6 Ibid., p. 31. Certain gestures should be avoided in public like yawning, laughter, nasal excretions, expectorating, harsh eye expressions, twisting of the body, frowning, looking around. These gestures are a violation of a shared civil code, often discussed in "courtesy books". Such actions should never be reflected in dance. Castiglione's "sprezzatura" (carefully practiced nonchalance) are part of the civil code - specifically, how members of the aristocracy can distance themselves from those they view as being beneath them: act as though social class based behavioral errors had never taken place. Words are not measured by meaning, but are measured as vocal gestures, as this conversation reveals character and morals. This aristocratic social code was enacted in parallel in dance. Dance was composed of gestures (meaning was not important), and expressed social class at all times. pp. 52, 53, 74, 76.
7 "Choreo-graphics: A Comparison of Dance Notation Systems From Fifteenth Century to the Present", by Ann Hutchinson Guest, Gordon Breach, 1959, p. xi
8 "L'Alphabet des Mouvements du Corps Humain", by Vladimir Stepanov.

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