The Middle Ages Flashcards
What was the attitude of the church towards dance in the Middle Ages?
Mixed. Christian converts wanted to dance so the church allowed ceremonial, beautiful, solemn, and hymnal dances. Dance with different genders was no allowed.
How did the church try to control dance?
The church only allowed ceremonial, beautiful, solemn, and hymnal dances. Dance with different genders was no allowed.
What was the Dance of the Angels?
Concept that arose in art and literature
What was Los Seises? What does it tell us about dance in the middle ages?
Altar boys who danced as a distraction. The church ended up allowing dance in small groups.
Compare the labyrinth dances of the middle ages to the labyrinth dances of Crete
Labyrinth dances of the Middle Ages were danced on Easter led by clergy members. They would lead in a tripudium around a labyrinth
What kinds of dances were done at Midsummer and Mayday festivals?
Spring dances
Explain the concept of dance of death?
Death and the devil were frequent symbols in the Middle Ages so Han Holbein and Albrecht Durer depicted these images in their art.
What was its social significance?
Showed that both the rich and the poor die
What is Danse Macabre?
Dance of the dead. Ancient belief that the dead sang and danced on courtyard and if they lured you in you would die in a year.
Explain what dance epidemics are and give two examples
Danseomania- form of psychosis from stress of war, plague, famine, religious persecution
- People suddenly began to dance uncontrollably for no reason
- Two examples are: The Tarantella and the Pied Piper of Hamin
What were mystery plays like?
Plays that educated the masses about church and teachings
What were morality plays like?
Illustrated moral truths such as virtue triumphs over vice, depicted creation, fall and final judgment of man, sometimes allegorical
What were miracle plays like?
Told thieves of saints and martyrs
Staged on church steps
What kinds of secular dance took place in the Middle Ages?
The carole
Circle dance with linked hands
Early couple dances
Who were the troubadours? Why are they important?
Poets and songwriters. They wrote lyric poems set to music about courtly love
Who were the minstrels? Why did some minstrels wander?
They were musicians attached to a manor house. They played the harp or viol. They also did poems, buffoonery, eating fire, and dancing. Some minstrels wandered because they were forced to go on or were replaced. The carried lightweight instruments due to their wandering.
Who were the letzim?
Jewish minstrels. Lowest rung of professional entertainers. They became super important because they became “dancing masters”
Why is the development of musical guilds important?
They provided music for noble dances, taught dances, and notated them (this was the first time written accounts of dance were made)
What is basse dance?
Called a low dance because there was no jumping
Chain or walking professional dance
They were about showing off what one was wearing
What is haut dance?
“High dance”
A lively dance with jumps
What is a Branle?
- a choral or couple dance derived from the carole
- performed in a circle with swaying movement
- dancers held hands or hooked fingers
What is a Farandole?
Chain dance- dancers linked hands making arches
What is a Saltarello?
Lively dance done in a circle, based on the schottische
What is a Moresco?
Dance that recounted the conflict between Europeans and the Moors (black Africans living in Spain and Portugal)
What is an Estampie and why is it important?
Dance with the oldest instrumental medieval music that appeared around 12th or 13th century. Weren’t in a circle or holding hands. Had a frontal orientation toward the observers
Explain what a pageant was like in the Middle Ages and why was it important to dance.
Moving spectacles that had roots in the miracle plays and the representations of medieval guilds
Explain what happened at the Bal des Ardents.
The Bal des Ardents of 1393 almost took the life of Charles VI, king of France
