Renaissance and Baroque Dance
The Master Classes of Renaissance and Baroque Dance are open to regular students and to visitors, both children and adults.
The classes start at Beginner level - previous experience in dance is not required.
Renaissance and Baroque dance provides a great opportunity to get a taste of these eras, and in particular of the lives of the nobility and upper classes to whom dance was as important as music, the visual arts and literature. The dances are performed to period music (which in many cases was composed especially for this purpose). It is important for students of Renaissance and Baroque instruments to experience contemporary dance in order to get a better idea of the pulse and inner rhythm of dance movements and of the music's original purpose.
From the second half of the 15th century, until far into the 18th century, a wealth of material about dance has survived. A wide range of fascinating dances exists for children and adults - from simple or slower dances, to very detailed or fast dances that allow for displays of virtuosity! The experience of practicing these dances in a group takes you back in time, and creates a special social interaction where all can enjoy together the elegance, grace and in some cases even humor that characterize these dances.
About the introductory workshop:
The workshop features a relatively easy Late Renaissance Spanish dance, as well as an introduction to Baroque Dance through a minuet for a large group. This workshop focuses mainly on the pleasure of dancing, without losing sight of the elementary features of style.
Dorothée Wortelboer & Hila Katz ©
Dorothée Wortelboer – Renaissance and Baroque Dance
After training in classical ballet, Dorothée Wortelboer specialized in Renaissance and Baroque dance. For numerous productions of historical music theatre, both in the Netherlands and abroad, she has both overseen the dance research, reconstruction and choreography, and taken part in them as a dancer/performer.
Dorothée established the ensemble Folia in 1988; Folia productions range from solo performances, accompanied by one or two musicians, to full-fledged theatre dance productions including eight dancers and a full instrumental ensemble. Since 1994 she has also been the artistic leader of the amateur dance group Fiori di Folia, which has proven to be a wonderful cradle and experimental setting for numerous theatrical early dance productions.
Dorothée has produced three CDs with music for Renaissance and Baroque dances, two of which accompany a practical dance manual written by her. The CDs and books (available in three languages) enjoy worldwide acclaim and distribution.
Dorothée Wortelboer is a welcome tutor at workshops, courses and summer schools in the Netherlands and many other European countries as well as in Australia.