4th Historical Dance Symposium - Italy and the Dance

With our next Symposium we would like to honour Barbara Sparti, one of the leading dance researchers of the 20th century, who died in 2013. In keeping with the central emphasis of her research activities, the highly diverse dance culture of Italy – from the final phase of the Middle Ages to the time of the Risorgimento ‒ is to be the main theme of the Symposium.

One central thematic area is to be the dance styles and forms which evolved in different regional, cultural and institutional contexts in Italy, their historical and stylistic development, their dissemination in Europe, their influence on other national dance styles, and their role (as style, as form, as cultural practice) in transmitting Italian culture in Europe. We likewise wish to examine the influences which emanated from other dance cultures (e.g. France) and left corresponding traces in Italy.

In this context, light is also to be shed on the artists who had a decisive share in this: Italian dancers, dancing masters, choreographers and teachers who worked in European palaces and major cities, spread Italian dance art in Europe and, conversely, absorbed a diversity of influences.

A further focus of the Symposium will be on the Italian contribution to the development of theatrical dance in Europe. Here we wish to concentrate on the characteristics of the Italian style and its distinguishing features vis-à-vis other “national” styles, but not neglecting the relationships between theatrical dance and theatre, especially Italian opera and also the influence of the Commedia dell’arte (e.g. with reference to the use of acrobatics and pantomime) on theatrical dance.

+++ What influence did the French Bassedanse have on Italian dance style? +++ How widespread were Italian dances in Germany around 1500? +++ How successful were Italian dancing masters in spreading their dance culture in Europe in the 16th century? +++ What effect did Italian dance style have on the French Ballets de cour? +++ What is considered as “typically Italian” in dance theory discourses? +++ What insights into Italian dance culture are provided by iconography? +++ What significance did dance have in Italian opera? +++ What role was played by Italian dancers and choreographers in European theatres? +++ To what extent were wandering troupes involved in dance culture transfer in Europe? +++ How strongly did “foreign” styles influence Italian dance culture in the 18th and 19th centuries? +++ What traces of the original were left in the Baroque Forlana or  the Monfrina of the European ballrooms? +++ What role was played by Italian folk dance in European theatrical art? +++ How did political movements such as the "Risorgimento" influence Italian dance culture? +++

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