Anatomy of a Dance Reconstruction, Part 5

Chained walk done in the wheel.

Each man will take the right hand of his lady, and they will do together 1 Seguito grave with the left; then taking the hand of the other lady by the left, they will do another Seguito with the right; and so they will follow from hand to hand, doing always the chain in the wheel, until they will have done 6 Seguiti: to the end of which each one will be discovered again in his place with his lady: and they will do this in 3 times of the Sonata.

For this chained walk, the dancers are “swimming” around the circle by exchanging hands in what English Country Dances would call a “hey”.

The seguito grave is normally three steps in three counts, followed by a pause on the fourth count. According to Caroso, it will take six seguiti gravi to complete a journey around the circle and return to your partner. This section of the music has forty-eight ordinary beats, so one seguito grave is going to have to use eight of them.

This is going to be one of the trickiest parts of the dance to interpret. In Contrapasso, this portion of the music takes eight seguito ordinario, so using the same arrangement of the music to complete six seguito grave could be problematic. The Dragonscale Consort arrangement of Contrapasso in Due the music may be incompatible with Contrapasso Nuovo.

After that they will do together the Riverenza grave, and 2 Continenze,

The riverenza grave will take twelve beats, and the continenze six beats left and six right.

with 4 Seguiti flanked, 2 back, and 2 forward.

This is the same set of flanked seguiti ordinario that we saw during this movement of the music before. As before, the sequence will take twenty-four ordinary beats.

All together will do 2 Passi gravi, and 1 Doppio presto forward, starting with the left, and they will take hands in the wheel,

As before, each passo grave will take three ordinary beats and the seguito ordinario will take six.

then back they will do 2 Passi grave, and 2 Riprese to the right, starting with the right.

Each passo grave will take three beats and each riprese will also take three.

Letting go of hands then, they will do of new the said 4 Seguiti flanked, as of above.

Four more flanked seguito ordinario in twenty-four beats.

Finally each man will take the right hand of his lady, and doing the Riverenza with the left foot; and each one turning the body to the lady which will stand to the left hand, they will take her left hand, and will do the Riverenza with the right:

A riverenza grave to your partner and another riverenza to your contrary (the person standing to the opposite side of you from your partner), each taking twelve beats.

then all letting go will do 4 Seguiti flanked, 2 back, and 2 forward, scurrying, starting it with the right:

Four more flanked seguito ordinario in twenty-four beats.

finally they will end the Ballo with doing the Riverenza with the left foot, which they will be found to have forward.

And a final riverenza.

Beats	Steps
48	6 Seguiti gravi, exchanging hands around the set, starting with your partner
24	Riverenza grave, and 2 Continenze
24	4 Seguiti ordinarii, 2 flanked back, and 2 forward
12	2 Passi gravi, and 1 Doppio presto forward
12	2 Passi grave, and 2 Riprese to the right
24	4 Seguiti ordinarii, 2 flanked back, and 2 forward
12	Riverenza gravi to partner
12	Riverenza gravi to contrary
24	4 Seguiti ordinarii, 2 flanked back, and 2 forward
*	Riverenza grave

On to Part 6.