Kourtney (Cox) Rentz Dance History to 1800 Dance 460 Research Paper

A Comparison of the Medieval and Renaissance Eras

It is incredible how much a society can change over such a short time period as the Medieval era to the Renaissance era. Usually we see changes in a society which are as drastic as the ones in these eras over a longer period of evolution. Many of the changes between the two eras can be attributed to the Bubonic plague or Black death which was a devastating disease killing a large part of the population in the late middle ages. . Those who could afford to escape the plague moved into the country. With such a dispersing of population there was a downfall in the economy which is where we see the worst of the dark ages. After the plague subsided, population increased and there was a rise in the economy again (Annenberg). The church began to lose power as the Renaissance era was born introducing secular morals, exploration, invention, revival of classical cultures, and entertainment (Kassing, 69). Differences between both eras can be found in the philosophies, beliefs, values, art and events. Dance was a large part of each era in different ways and is a symbol of how life was in both the Medieval and Renaissance periods. This paper discusses how these differences attributed to dance in their time periods as well as in our modern times. The beliefs and values of the Medieval era were very opposite of what the Renaissance era believed and valued. The Catholic Church during the Medieval era conformed to St. Pauls conception of the spirit as opposed to the senses and his contempt for the body and its functions. (Sorell 39) Also according to Sorell, this idea of aestheticism and the separation of the soul and the body is what laid the groundwork for the extremes of medieval life (40). This

belief that punishing the body will exalt the soul is one of the things that led to the much distorted view of the body during this time period. The people disregarded the body and thought of it as unimportant. The church was very controlling in so far as telling them where they could and could not hunt or what they could and could not do. If the people hunted or fished on the land owned by the church and their landlords, the people were punished by death. Days were filled with processions and executions and people were tried by irrational ordeals (Sorell 39). Life was very unpleasant and that was something that was just accepted. People were living in horrible poverty where they were doing extreme things to survive like putting rats in their pockets for warmth (Kraus, class discussion). Another reason for the distorted view of the body was the bubonic or black plague. This was a very disfiguring, painful disease where victims would acquire big black swellings on the neck and all over the body. The disease spread quickly and took with it much of the population (Kassing 77). The Renaissance era started out similar to the Medieval era but over time it grew to be even more spectacular than the Medieval was awful. The Renaissance era grew out of the flood of wealth from newly discovered mines of the new world (north and south America) and large, successful business enterprises. With this wealth, there became an emphasis on secular belief and the things money could get you including, political power, scientific knowledge, family love, physical beauty, and the arts. (Cass 50) The people did everything they could to have a lifestyle that was joyful and luxurious in every way possible. The wealthy lived in huge palaces and surrounded themselves with whatever would add to their pleasure including the arts. Their lives were very extravagant and included many activities that would enrich their soul, knowledge and skills like swimming, wrestling, gymnastics, horseback riding and of course dancing which was

one of the most valued of skills to have (Cass 52). Simple, daily tasks like getting ready for the day became big events. The wealthy would put together intricate outfits and hairdos, mounds of jewelry, they would color their teeth, and even put perfume on their money. The peoples views of the body had changed from one of disgust in the middle ages to one of expectation for perfection. These views and beliefs of both eras shaped the events that occurred during each of the time periods. In the medieval era, the people celebrated what they called the Fte des Fous or in our own words, the Feast of Fools (Sorell 41). This was an event for the lower clergy of the church to gather around the alter and perform a raucous, irreverent, boisterous dance to make fun of their superiors (Kraus, class discussions). This was a release for them from the strict rules of the church. Included in this event were lots of merrymaking, dancing and singing. There were people who would dress up as jesters and fools who wore red and yellow clothes that were adorned with bells and a cap that fell over his shoulders like an asses ears. This was the day for these fools to break rules, make inappropriate remarks and even hit people with his inflated balloon-like baton that he carried. The fool was kept around and tolerated because they reminded the masters of their own follies and weaknesses (Sorell 41). Unlike the unorganized, crude celebrations of the Medieval time period, the Renaissance era celebrated events in a way that represented their extravagant views of life. The people during this time period celebrated often and would throw big spectacles for events like a visit from a royal member, a wedding, or a holiday. The people would spend long amounts of time preparing for these grand events by making floats depicting scenes from folk legends and making sure their town was in top shape much like a city will prepare for the Olympics in todays society. The people would then attend the events in impressive costumes and masks (Cass 51).

The arts and especially dance were a very big part of the lives in both the Medieval era and the Renaissance era. For the Medieval era, the Catholic church was often trying to suppress dancing and to stamp out this evil, this lascivious madness in man called dance which is the devils business (Sorell 36). St. Augustine during the 4th century complained in one of his sermons, It is preferable to till the soil and to dig ditches on the day of the Lord than to dance a choric Reigen. Oh, how times and manners change! What once was the business of lute-players and shameless women only, namely to sing and to play, this is now considered an honor among Christian virgins and matrons who even engage masters in their art to teach them. (Sorell 36) This quote shows that teaching of music and dance was still prevalent in some form in the early Christian era. Also, as much as the church tried to suppress dancing, there was still a lot of it during this era. We already discussed that death was something that was very predominant. Death and the devil were two of the most common symbols used in the middle ages (Sorell 39). Some of the images of death were actually dancers, dancing skeletons or corpses dancing on tombs. Because of the church trying to inflict their negative view of dancing on the people, dancing became related with death. Also, death became something that was happier than their awful lives. The people came up with a dance they called the Danse Macabre or the Totentanz or it was even called Danse des mortes. In our own words, this was the dance of death. This dance became very popular during the time of the bubonic plague in Europe in the 14th century. The dance of death was significant because it allowed the poor to see the rich as equals (Sorell 39). After death, all men can be made equals which gave the poor the chance to

impersonate the rich. The church leaders of course tried to get rid of this dance happening in their courtyards but their efforts were failed because of how much death was occurring. The dance developed when men tried to drive out the devil by catching him and turned into a dance of hysteric gaiety (Sorell 39). The people would start out with animated dancing. Then, someone would fall to the floor pretending to be dead while the others would dance around him in mock mourning. If the person who fell was a man, the girls would kiss him back to life. If it was a girl, the male dancers would kiss her back to life. With this silly ritual, death became even more of a pun than it already was. Little did the people know, they were actually spreading the plague germs through the kissing (Sorell 40). Dance during the Medieval time period was very different to what we picture dance as being. Sorell explained it as people who walked, stepped about, and jumped from time to time. There was some swinging of the hips and a turning inward of the feet. (42) There dances were often in the form of a chain dance or circle, there was no real etiquette involved and it was usually accompanied by their voices. Their way of life was reflected in the way that they danced. Their dancing was really kind of ugly and unorganized, much like the way their lives were run. Another form of dance during the Medieval era was a dance mania. This was a strange form of dance where the people would all of a sudden break from their everyday activities and dance uncontrollably until exhaustion or even death. Scholars say that this was the peoples psychotic response to all of the war, plague, famine, religious persecution, and fear that the world was going to end (Kassing 77). At Christian festivals people would suddenly begin to sing and danced in churchyards disturbing the service. Usually the priests could not stop them and would curse the dancers. One reason for this behavior was the disease called St. Vitus dance disease. This was a nervous twitching disease where the infected would lose nerve connection,

move involuntarily in an erratic way. People who were infected would journey to the chapel of St. Vitus (the patron of dancers and actors) to be cured. People who did not want to make the journey were executed. Another cause for these symptoms was a type of fungus which grew on rye. Because the people were so poverty stricken, they were so desperate for food that they would eat the rotten rye. This fungus caused hallucinogenic episodes and heart problems. One other example of uncontrollable dancing was caused by what the people called the tarantella. People who were bit by a tarantula would dance until exhausted as a way to rid the body of the poison. It was also supposed to combat St. Vitus disease. In reality, this just made the poison spread faster (Kassing 76). These are some of the reasons why you hear about many people in the Medieval time period who would dance until they died. This crazy dancing is an indication of the tone of the time. Sorell said that it is common for dansomania to occur during cataclysmic events like war, famine, and in this case, the plague (40). The Renaissance periods dance was much different from the dance of the Medieval time period but similarly, the dance did reflect the views of the Renaissance era. The people really valued the arts during this time. They had artistic works in cathedrals and palaces by great artists of the time like Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, and Michelangelo. We know the arts and especially dance were so valued because of the large amount of documentation there is. In The Art of Courtly Dancing in the Early Renaissance, a book describing dances of the Renaissance, Ingrid Brainard tells us that, the documentation is rich indeed: literary references- letters, ambassadorial reports, chronicles, poems, and plays side by side with edicts issued by clerical and civil authorities forbidding excesses in dance- describe specific events and give us names of

dances performed; pictures to show body positions, gestures, dress and accessories, social and physical setting (indoors and outside, garden, village green, palace hall, city square, stage), accompanists (pipes, full bands, orchestra, music scores, guidelines for proper elaboration of music and dance). (Brainard 3) Documentation of the arts became so popular because the printing press had just been invented. However, because it was still new, only information about the upper class and court dancing had been recorded. There is actually not enough information available for us to reconstruct a folkdance of the lower class and peasants during the Renaissance era. Dance in the Renaissance era was a very obvious indication of what life was like during this time. The people during this period held what is called the Renaissance festival. This was a very extravagant event which included the royal entry, games, entertainment and of dancing. Dances that were popular included dances like the Basse Danse, a dance where the dancers feet did not leave the ground. This dance was done very serene and graciously. The Haute Danse included dances where movement involved hops, leaps, high jumps, kicks and stamps (Dolmetsch 1). The Branle was a dance that originated from the word branler meaning to swing side to side. This dance involved a linking of the row of dancers by holding hands or hooking fingers to form a chain or circle. Dancers would then move from the left to the right (Dometsch 55). The classical dance suite involved a dance called the Pavane which was a slow, processional dance representing the peacock. This dance was very refined, elaborately detailed and formation oriented. It was done to introduce the party to the King and Queen (Dolmetsch 82). Another dance was the Galliard which was a very fast, strong, upbeat dance that required agility, precision and rapid footwork (Dolmetsch 102).

A very important figure during the Renaissance time was Catherine de Medici. Catherine was married off to King Henry II of France at fourteen years old. Catherine was very bright and became an advisor to the King. She becomes queen of France for 30 years after Henry dies in a jousting accident. Catherine is a very important figure for the arts because she was a big advocator for it. She surrounded herself with talented people and spent a lot of time, effort, and money on the arts. Catherine was also very interested in peace and believed that she could use dance as a tool for creating peace in France. Catherine created the first ballet called Comingue de la Reine (Cass 66) which lasted from 10 in the evening to four in the morning. The production cost around five million francs to produce and around 10,000 spectators saw the performance (Kraus 70). The set was extremely extravagant including fountains, water machines, a palace, gardens, a chariot float and many dancers. Music was also performed by a number of ensembles. This is just an example of how important dance was to the people during the Renaissance period. The Medieval and Renaissance eras were very different in theme but dance was very important to each in different ways. It is also interesting to see how dance could be an obvious indication of what life is like in an era. Medieval dancing was very erratic, uncontrollable and ugly. There were little to no rules involved and the people related dance with death which was very prevalent. Dance in the Renaissance was extravagant, detailed and related to peace and life. Both eras were important to the history of dance and have contributed to society today. The Medieval time period gave us Halloween and the celebration of the dead (Sorell 38). It also gave us Christmas carols which started out as a dance in a ring which were a mimicking of angels in heaven dancing and singing what they called a carole. The Renaissance era gave us ballet and ballroom dancing which are both dances that led to many other forms of dance we have today.

Works Cited

Annenberg Foundation. "Renaissance -- Out of the Middle Ages." Renaissance -- Out of the Middle Ages. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. Brainard, Ingrid G. The Art of Courtly Dancing in the Early Renaissance. Part II: The Practice of Courtly Dancing. 1st Preliminary Ed. 1st ed. West Newton, MA: I.G. Brainard, 1981. Print. Cass, Joan. Dancing through History. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993. Print. Dolmetsch, Mabel. Dances of England and France from 1450 to 1600: With Their Music and Authentic Manner of Performance. New York: Da Capo, 1975. Print. Kassing, Gayle. "The Middle Ages Through the Renaissance." History of Dance: An Interactive Arts Approach. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2007. 65-87. Print. Kraus, Richard G. History of the Dance in Art and Education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall, 1969. Print. Sorell, Walter. The Dance through the Ages. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1967. Print.