Il dibattito europeo sulla danza nella prima età moderna
Davide o Salomè?
Il dibattito europeo sulla danza nella prima età moderna [David or Salomè? The European debate about dance in the Early Modern Age]
by Alessandro Arcangeli
Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche-Viella Treviso-Rome 2000
392 pages
18 illustrations black and white euros 24.79
ISBN 88-8334-006-X (series Ludica, 5)
Should a practising Christian dance? Social customs change in time but the moral issue vis-à-vis dancing has accompanied the history of Christian churches from their earliest times right up to the present day.
A fundamental stage in the debate started with mediaeval theology and preaching and developed between and within the various confessions and national variants of post-Reformation Christianity. The quotations and arguments used in the fierce dispute between the public accusers and the defending advocates of dance tended to cancel each other out. What exactly was the nature of the practice they were so exercised about? Was it like the reverential improvisation of David before the Ark of the Covenant or was it closer to the shamelessly seductive dance of Salome at Herod’s banquet?
The context in which the debate was conducted was that of the Renaissance; dance had reached full aesthetic maturity and also provided a social setting for the acquisition of “buone maniere”. Doctors recommended it as good physical exercise and curious travellers noted that it was common amongst savages.
Finale Ligure Prize Alessandro Arcangeli won the Special Prize for a first work, awarded by the Jury of the sixth “Finale Ligure History” competition, organized by the municipal administration of Finale Ligure (2nd June 2001). The event is reserved for works of scholarship on the Middle Ages and rewards “new research” and “the capacity to interest the reader in one of the most fascinating and creative periods in European history”.
The international jury is chaired by Prof. Gabriella Airaldi (Genoa University) and includes Franco Cardini, Salvatore Fodale, José Enrique Ruiz-Domènec, Peter Schreiner and Giuseppe Sergi.
informations
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