«... del pigliar la Dama per condurla al ballo con leggiadria»

Dance and Relational Construction of Noble Masculinity in the Ancient Régime

Abstract

Between 15th and 17th centuries in Europe we are witnessing a process of progressive change in the conception of power and in the image of the prince. This passage 115 is the result of the assumption by the nobles of a new paradigm of behaviors, no longer dictated solely by nature, but conforming to a “second nature”, the result of educational processes inspired by the renewed humanistic ideology of the formation of man of power. In this context, dance, as it appears in particular in dance treatises between the 15th and 17th centuries, contributes, with other social practices, to building, in relational terms, a new form of masculinity in power. The essay will show how at the beginning of the modern age, dance, guided, among other things, by precepts oriented to gender identity, was a powerful instrument of incorporation of values in guiding the male figure first from the Romance idea of knight to that of humanist prince; in a second moment towards a masculinity marked by the gagliardezza trait vs leggiadria trait.