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The Society of Folk Dance Historians (SFDH) Reverence
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BACKGROUND
Information: A Renaissance dance motif
The reverence (aka reverena) is not so much a step, as a bookend for a dance. The man bows to the woman, and the woman curtseys to the man. This is done at the beginning and end of each dance. The reverence was a part of every dance at court.
Translation: Respect
Pronunciation: REH-veh-rents
Region: England
REFERENCES
- Ingrid Brainard's reconstruction from Arena: Antonius Arena. Rules of Dancing, late 1520s. Transcription and English translation by John Guthrie and Marino Zorzi in Dance Research, 4:2 (Autumn 1986).
Man:
Weight on the R foot; L foot slightly forward, describe half circle sweeping L foot around to behind R foot.
Remove head covering and bend both knees to sit back over L leg.
Straighten R knee and then L knee to describe a vertical half-circle with the body.
Close L foot to R foot and replace head covering.Woman:
Demi-plie.
- Toulouze Imprint, L'Art et Instruction de Bien Dancer, Dance Horizons reprint, including English translation. Toulouse uses démarche for the initial Reverence and the single or three reprises backwards.
"Note that every basse danse begins by a démarche and ends with a branle."
"A single démarche must be made with the right foot in retreating, and it is called démarche because one retreats, and it must be made with an inclination of the body and bringing the right foot back near to the other.
The second démarche must be made with the left foot with a similar inclination of the body, turning slightly towards the lady, then bringing the right foot near to the left one with one more inclination of the body.
The third démarche should be made with the right foot like the first."
- The Brussels manuscript uses "Honeur," possibly for reverence, possibly differentiating reverence from désmarche and designating désmarche as the first step in each dance.
Do you have any evidence that this first démarche was considered a reverence?
First, Toulouse's own quote (which I cited in my last message): "Note that every basse danse begins by a démarche and ends with a branle." In the choreographies the first letter is R but Toulouse explains, "And one should note that in order to understand more easily the letters that follow after the notes, for R one should understand démarche . . ."
–Barbara Sparti
DOCUMENTS
- England, a country.
- Renaissance, a culture.
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- Toulouze Imprint, L'Art et Instruction de Bien Dancer, Dance Horizons reprint, including English translation. Toulouse uses démarche for the initial Reverence and the single or three reprises backwards.