Renaissance Dances
Video clips of assorted Renaissance dances including the pavan, galliard, canary, sword dances, and courtly dance suites, as well as a comic piece in the style of an antimasque from a court masque:
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Italian Renaissance Dance and Music Part I
Date of Performance: Not available
Location of Performance: Not available
Dancers: Judith Kennedy, Daniel Stephens
Choreographer: Judith Kennedy, Daniel Stephens
Date published or posted online: Jan 24, 2012
Publisher: David Rogers
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQsaP0PEhdY
More Info: An example of renaissance dancing and music with traditional clothing.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Italian Renaissance Dance and Music Part II
Date of Performance: Not available
Location of Performance: Not available
Dancers: Judith Kennedy, Daniel Stephens
Choreographer: Judith Kennedy, Daniel Stephens
Date published or posted online: Jan 25, 2012
Publisher: David Rogers
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTjOmNz7WBA
More Info: An example of renaissance dancing and music with traditional clothing.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Kings almighty – Pavane & Galliard
Date of Performance: April 2012
Location of Performance: St. Petersburg, Russia
Dancers: Vento del Tempo Dance Ensemble
Choreographer: Trad.
Date published or posted online: Apr 9, 2012
Publisher: esmolnyakova
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43DAoCwBT0k
More Info: Featuring the Reditus music ensemble and traditional baroque dances.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Galliard Dance Off (KWDS 5) in Australia
Date of Performance: Not Available
Location of Performance: Australia
Dancers: Darius, Traehern
Choreographer: Trad.
Date published or posted online: Apr 16, 2008
Publisher: Gwommy
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncg-_SxHTqU
More Info: A dance-off between two men, each doing the traditional galliard, to decide who is going to host the next Known World Dance Symposium. The Known World Dance Symposium is in its 11th year: it is a multiple-day event full of traditional feasting, music, dance, and costume. See http://www.kwds.org/index.php?kwds=11 for more information.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: canario de J.H. Kapsberger
Date of Performance: January 27, 2008
Location of Performance: Not available
Dancers: Béatrice Pornon and Laurence Postigo
Choreographer: Not available
Date published or posted online: Mar 13, 2008
Publisher: luthlol
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtDyHrGdp6E
More Info: Featuring music by J. H. Kapsberger performed by la compagnie Christine Grimaldi.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: The Goates Masque – Eseltanz (Renaissance Dance)
Date of Performance: July 2012
Location of Performance: St. Magni Church, Braunschweig, Germany
Dancers: Not available
Choreographer: Trad.
Date published or posted online: Jul 29, 2012
Publisher: LuteandTheorbo
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ptjP_SeyE
More Info: A traditional dance published in 1589 by Frenchman Thoinot Arbeau. Music by the Resoldo Milare ensemble: see www.resoldo-milare.de for more information. Performance features the Resoldo Milare ensemble and two dancers in a goat costume.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Early Music Exposed – The Jigge Is Up: Dance in Shakespeare’s Time
Date of Performance: March 2010
Location of Performance: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Dancers: The New York Historical Dance Company: Susan Braisted, Mark DeGarmo, Niel de Marino, Mark Mindek, Patricia Rader, Maris Wolff
Choreographer: Dorothy Olsson, Kaspar Mainz
Date published or posted online: Aug 3, 2010
Publisher: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFVWPFr78cc&feature=youtu.be
More Info: Featuring Baroqu Chambers Ensemble Flying Forms: Marc Levine on violin, Motomi Igarashi on viola, and Tami Morse on the harpsichord.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Alta Mendozza (Renaissance Dance)
Date of Performance: 2011
Location of Performance: Huysburg
Dancers: Not available
Choreographer: Trad.
Date published or posted online: Aug 1, 2011
Publisher: LuteandTheorbo
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiFv2UX4_nk&feature=youtu.be
More Info: A traditional dance published in 1589 by Frenchman Thoinot Arbeau. Music by the Resoldo Milare ensemble: see www.resoldo-milare.de for more information.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Alta Mendozza
Date of Performance: Not available
Location of Performance: Not available
Dancers: The Saint-Petersburg Historical Dance Club Company
Choreographer: Trad.
Date published or posted online: Dec 26, 2009
Publisher: esmolnyakova
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ6gRWAOtL0&feature=youtu.be
More Info: A traditional dance published in 1589 by Frenchman Thoinot Arbeau.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Danse Renaissance: Pas talons pour Pantalon
Date of Performance: June 2011
Location of Performance: Festival du Conservatoire d’Auxerre, France
Dancers: Bassa Toscana company
Choreographer: Jacquet, Stéphane Quéant
Date published or posted online: Sep 8, 2011
Publisher: Bassa Toscana
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2-ZE0Lur20
More Info: Performed at the festival of CRD registered auxerre (Edinburgh Festival). Film by Alain Jacquet. See www.bassatoscana.fr for more information on the ensemble.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Les Bouffons (Renaissance Dance)
Date of Performance: 2011
Location of Performance: Huysburg
Dancers: Not available
Choreographer: Trad.
Date published or posted online: Aug 2, 2011
Publisher: LuteandTheorbo
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX8bdTAaSl8
More Info: Les Bouffons is a “silly” dance published in 1589 by Frenchman Thoinot Arbeau. Music performed by the Resoldo Milare ensemble. The Resoldo Milare is a musical ensemble that specializes in Renaissance and early Baroque music. They perform traditional songs in traditional clothing and collaborate with dancers and performers as requested. The Resoldo Milare performs all over Germany and Europe: see www.resoldo-milare.de for more information.
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Les Bouffons
Date of Performance: Not available
Location of Performance: Montreal, Canada
Dancers: Danse Ancienne à Montréal
Choreographer: Reconstructed by Michel Landry
Date published or posted online: Oct 1, 2013
Publisher: Michel Landry
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrhpm_gy1uU&feature=youtu.be
More Info: A traditional dance notated and published by Thoinot Arbeau in Orchésographie (1588).
Video Clip Details
Title of Clip: Buffonen – Th. Arbeau, 1588
Date of Performance: 2004
Location of Performance: Nürnberg, Germany
Dancers: Schembart Gesellschaft Nürnberg – Musik und Tanz der Renaissance
Choreographer: Reconstructed by Agnes Graf-Then (?)
Date published or posted online: Jun 16, 2010
Publisher: schembarthk
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrhpm_gy1uU&feature=youtu.be
More Info: A traditional dance notated and published by Thoinot Arbeau in Orchésographie (1588).
Renaissance Dance Steps
Demonstrations of Renaissance dance steps and combinations from the Library of Congress dance step video archive:
For other examples of dancing in Shakespeare plays, those of his contemporaries, and Shakespeare-inspired performances see our YouTube channel: ShakespeareAndDance at http://www.youtube.com/user/ShakespeareAndDance.
Updated May 26, 2021.
The Shakespeare and Dance Project 
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