Anatomy of a Dance Reconstruction, Part 4

We have now reached the first change of the music. I generally think of this second movement of the music as a sort of chorus, although it’s certainly not one in the same sense as the chorus of a cascarda like Laccio d’Amore or Gracca Amoroso. It has a repetitiveness, though, that makes me think of it that way. This movement of the music is where the dancers start to really interact with each other.

After each one will take the right hand of his lady, and will do 2 Passi gravi, with 1 Seguito ordinario, starting it with the left, and changing place.

Going by our previous timing cues, each passo grave will take three (ordinary) beats and the seguito ordinario will take six. First time around, the lords will switch places with their partners while holding right hands. This will take twelve counts

Then the man taking the left hand of the lady which he will find to the right hand, they will do together 2 Passi gravi, and 1 Seguito semidoppio, changing place always: they will not be sorry, if the second turn they will be found without their lady, because then to the end of the third change, each one will be discovered again with his own.

Here’s where this dance differs most interestingly from Contrapasso. Instead of the partners reversing their turn to go back to their original places, they separate and start working their way around the circle. They take the left hand of the next lord/lady in the circle to do a second switch.By the third repeat of the “chorus”, they’ll find each other again.

The passi gravi still take three beats each, but the seguito semidoppio is a trickier step to perform in the allotted six beats of music. The two passi presti together should theoretically take three beats, with the seguito spezzato taking the remaining three, but you may find it hard to stretch two quick steps over three beats of music. Just how to make the rhythm look and feel natural is something to work out when you actually start performing the steps to the music. My guess is that I’ll arrange the passi presti in two beats, the spezzato in the next three, and rest briefly on the sixth beat. This part of the change will take another twelve counts.

The Semidoppio done, they will do 4 Seguiti ordinarii, 2 flanked back, and 2 forward.

A similar set of flanked seguiti ordinarii occurs in Contrapasso. This entire sequence will take twenty-four ordinary beats. I suspect that everyone will need to make these moves toward the outside of the circle to avoid collisions.

Second change.

The men will take the lady who stands to the right hand by the right arm, and they will do the same which they will have done in the first change when they took her by the hands, always changing ladies, and place.

The exchanges now continue, the only difference being that the we “arm” our way around instead of just taking hands. By arming, we meant that you lightly hold the other person by the elbow. The switches will take twenty-four beats, followed by flanking out and back for another twenty four beats.

Third change.

The men taking the lady which stands to the right by both hands, they will do the same changes said above. And to the end of this change each one will be discovered again at his place, as they were standing when they started the Ballo.

In the third set of exchanges, we take the other person by both hands instead of just one. This could potentially be a little awkward when switching in the middle. Again, the switches will take twenty-four beats, followed by flanking out and back for twenty four beats.

Summing all that up…

Beats	Steps
12	2 Passi gravi, and 1 Seguito ordinario (hands)
12	2 Passi gravi, and 1 Seguito semidoppio (hands)
24	4 Seguiti ordinarii, 2 flanked back, and 2 forward
12	2 Passi gravi, and 1 Seguito ordinario (arms)
12	2 Passi gravi, and 1 Seguito semidoppio (arms)
24	4 Seguiti ordinarii, 2 flanked back, and 2 forward
12	2 Passi gravi, and 1 Seguito ordinario (both hands)
12	2 Passi gravi, and 1 Seguito semidoppio (both hands)
24	4 Seguiti ordinarii, 2 flanked back, and 2 forward

In our next installment, we’ll go back to the first movement of the music, as the entire piece essentially repeats in full, but with movements for the dancers.

On to Part 5.