Baroque Dance - Passacaille from Armide (L'Abbé, Lully)

A performance of Anthony L'Abbé's solo Passacaille to music by Jean-Baptiste Lully from the tragédie en musique "Armide".

This solo choreography was published in Beauchamp-Feuillet dance notation in 1711 by Edmund Pemberton, and was adapted from an earlier (c.1706) Passacaille for two women that is also extant in notation. Here it has been reconstructed by Philippa Waite with reference to dancing manuals from the first half of the 18th century.

The musicians in this performance are:
Andrew Wilson-Dickson - Director/Harpsichord
Emma Harrhy - Baroque cello
Sophia McKenna - Baroque oboe
Barry d'Souza - Baroque violin
Gillian Stevens - Viola da gamba

Philippa's costume is after a design for a female dancer from the studio of Jean Berain, c.1685.

For more, see our website: http://www.ukbaroquedance.com

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• baroque
• dance
• passacaglia
• 18th-century
• 17th-century
• belle
• danse
• harpsichord
• oboe
• violin
• cello
• viol
• early
• ballet
• music

[SecretTheatre]

Having said that this is quite possibly the most beautiful thing my eyes and ears have ever witnessed.

[Ocendesert]

I would love to take the dancer's baroque dance class!

[wichmannsburg]

@SecretTheatre Have you ever listened to the same piece played by "Les Arts florissants" (dir. William Christie) ? Probably not - you would perhaps not have written that comment...

[stevenpaulniles]

Very beautiful performance. I will definitely ask to study Baroque dance with you the next time I am in England. I was just wondering if your pleasant smile is wholly appropriate for the serious Passacaille genre. Was the smile welcome, or just an inadvertent outgrowth of this wondrous music and dance?

[cymro89]

Such a wonderful performance. Very inspiring. Have you any more videos of your dancing? Such graceful hands, especially the subtle turns from 5'28 near the end. Amazing!

[TassieLute]

I get so annoyed with dance videos that zoom in and out and invariably zoom in and focus on the face when interesting things are happening with the feet. Just keep a long shot. The dancer is the artist in this instance, not the filmaker.

[Malloyism]

Baroque dancing seems to involve rather excessive ammount of bobbing up and down compared to other dance styles.

[vagadellestelle]

How beautiful... grace, elegance, but also sensuality and sexiness (yes!) expressed in a way which only evokes, a way which makes you understand everything without the need to say a single word, be it explicit or vulgar... this is real art, all the half-naked lady gaga and the rihanna of the world with their pathetic and awkward moves don't have the sensuality of a hidden knee of this ballerina and her dance.