Processes of formation and developmental trends in renaissance courtly dance
Processes of formation and developmental trends in renaissance courtly dance

Summary/Abstract: The article is focused on the analysis of processes for formation and basic trends for the development of Renaissance ballroom dance as a holistic technology for cultural codification of corporeality, social visibility, and affect. On the foundation of the historical and cultural reconstruction and the source-scientific analysis for the Renaissance treatises and annotated collections (1445-1600), it is illustrated that cultural codification within the coordinates of ‘measure and maniera,’ spatial-mnemonic protocols, and etiquette prescriptions creates a latent ‘code of discipline,’ wherein desire is transmuted to a readable public act. Content analysis with a seven-block matrix produced three stable clusters: ‘code of discipline,’ ‘ritual-theatrical order,’ and ‘affect under control.’ The second stage of design included a pilot perceptual evaluation on video reconstructions of basse danse, ballo, and branle (N = 86: untrained adults). It was found that kinematic complexity is perceived as aesthetically more pleasing through ‘protocol readability,’ and that ‘erotic tension under control’ is a significant additional factor. In the SEM model analysis, ‘ceremonial theatricalization’ is understood to essentially mean a sense of social hierarchy and is thus conceived as a movement from the ritualistic ritual of the salon to stage and political allegory. A psychoanalytic approach (sublimation and the Imaginary-Symbolic-Real triplet) provides terms with which one can articulate ballroom dance as a device for ‘public intimacy,’ wherein norm and pleasure come together in a stable grammatical structure of reciprocal desire.

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