Colonesse, by Guglielmo. Three couples. Difficulty = Level 2
Steps:Sempio (in 6), Doppio (in 4 and in 6), Saltarello (in 6), Piva (in 4), Movimento, Reverenza

Starting Position
Start: Couple 1 is in front, Couple 2 is three or four steps behind them, and Couple 3 is three or four steps behind Couple 2. Partners are side by side, holding hands, facing up the hall, Women on the right.
Section I (4 bars in 6/8, three times, and five more bars in 6/8: 17 bars total.)
1 Introduction (no step).
2-4 \
1-4 (2nd, 3rd times) } 16 Saltarelli, starting on Left.
5-9 /
Section II (5 bars in 6/4, played three times)

Bars 10-11
10-14 Couple at the top (Couple 1, this time) stands still,
as Couple in the middle (Couple 2 this time) Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left, taking right hands and circling clockwise, then Sempio Right, Sempio Left, Doppio Right, taking left hands and circling counterclockwise back to place, the man turning to face up the hall at the end, then Reverenza Left, taking hands again,
asCouple at the bottom (Couple 3) Sempio Left, Sempio Right, 4 Doppii starting Left, weaving together around the other couples to the top, still holding hands, the man leading. At the top he stops in the woman's place, while she goes behind him to reach the man's place. (Other weaves, discussed in the notes, are possible, and nothing prevents each couple from doing whichever weave they prefer.) (Couple 3 is now at the top and have switched places with each other, Couple 1 is in the middle, and Couple 2 is at the bottom. Everyone is facing up the hall)

Bars 12-14
10-14 (2nd time) Repeat.
10-14 (3rd time) Repeat. (The middle couple, Couple 3, will have already switched places, so, while they still rotate the same way as the other couples, and using the same hands, it is the woman who will need to turn at the end to face up the hall.) (Couples are in their original order, but Men and Women have switched sides. All dancers are facing up the hall and should be as close to their partners as possible, to make the next section easier.)
Section III (3 bars in 2/4, played twice)
Bars 15-17 (2nd time)
15-17 Men Piva Left, Piva Right, Piva Left, circling partners counterclockwise.
15-17 (2nd time)Women Piva Right, Piva Left, Piva Right, circling partners clockwise.
Section IV (3 bars in 4/4)

Bar 20
18 Men Movimento, then Women Movimento, facing each other as they do so.
19 Doppio Right, backing away from partner.
20 Doppio Left, forward, turning on the last beat to face up the hall. (Dancers are as they began the dance, except Women are on the left and Men on the right.)
The dance is repeated with the roles reversed. For Section I, do 17 Saltarelli starting Right instead of a pause and 16 Saltarelli.

Recordings

Mesura - Four-bar extra introduction. Works with this reconstruction. Repeats.

To Celebrate - Two-bar extra introduction. Works with this reconstruction. Section II is quite fast. Repeats. There is a long note at the end.

Dance Notes

Start: No spacing is given, but three or four steps between couples seems to be standard and allows enough room for the weaving.

Section I: The music, in PnG at least, is clearly 17 bars, so one bar as an introduction and then the 16 saltarelli called for in the choreography fits. There is no foot given for the saltarelli, but since the foot used next is the left, then starting on the left is to be expected if a strict alternation of feet is used in the saltarello section. On the repeat of the dance, the last step taken was on the left foot, so performing 17 saltarelli, starting on the right, works well. The sources do not indicate this, however, so it may be that the first bar was used as an introduction and to shift weight to the other foot. (We feel that the dance flows better if the dancers immediately start the saltarelli instead of pausing.)

Bars 10-14, The Middle Couple: The sources do not say that the man turns to face front again at the end of the second doppio, but this seemed a logical place to have him turn, as the woman will already be facing forward. It is also possible that they end the doppio, and do the following reverenza, while still facing each other. This works with the third alternate weave given below. Also, there is no mention of the couple taking hands for the reverenza, this being added to suit the weave chosen. If a weave where the couple splits up is chosen, instead, then they should not take hands.

Bars 10-14, The Bottom Couple: The weave is not described, the sources merely having some variation on 'tramezando le due coppie'. There is a similar description in the dance Legiadra, but only two couples are involved. In that dance there is much less possibility for weaving motions, so it seems to be more of a partitioning than an actual weave. This interpretation was also chosen here, with the bottom couple merely passing through the space between the other two couples on their way to the top. However, the bottom couple can instead split up and take separate paths to reach the top, resulting in a more weave-like interpretation. In these cases the man and woman will be crossing paths on one or more occasions. When they do so, the man should cross first to avoid stepping on the woman's train, if she is wearing one.

It is clear that the third couple cannot pass through the middle of the center couple, as the center couple is holding hands until the last bar, but it is possible that the weaving couple passes between the man and woman of the head couple. In a weave with this format the third couple separates to go behind the center couple and then trade places as they pass between the top couple. This is shown below:
Another weave where the bottom couple splits up has them trading places when they are between the top and center couples, as is shown in the following diagram:
A longer version of the previous weave has the bottom couple trading places at the bottom, in the center, and at the top, as is shown below. Much larger steps are needed for this. This weave also works better if the couples face each other at the end of Section I and use that, rather than a forward-facing position, as their starting position for Section II and Section III.

Bars 10-14 (3rd time): None of the sources specify a third repeat, but they all do specify that the couples find themselves as they were in the beginning, so a third repeat is implied.

Section III: No foot is given, nor direction that the dancers circle their partners. Left was chosen to start, as at the end of Section II everyone's weight is ready to step on that foot. Counterclockwise was chosen for the men as, if they remain facing forward (which is not necessarily the case), that direction is the most natural way to circle their partners. Right foot and clockwise are then the corresponding choices for the women.

Bar 18: The sources do not say to face each other during the movimenti, but as the next step is done backing away from each other, the partners do need to turn towards each other at some point. Other places to do this are quite possible, and it will not be necessary if the third alternate weave above is used, as the partners will already be facing each other.

Bar 20: The doppio forward is described as being done turning, as much as the dancer wishes. NYp specifies that this is on the left foot, however, so the turn is presumably a pivot turn, done at the end of the doppio, when the weight is on the left. A simple quarter turn is sufficient to turn both dancers forward to start the dance again, but if they prefer, the dancers can turn more; for instance, the women could do a 3/4 turn clockwise, while the men move clockwise with a 1 1/4 turn.

Repeat: Since the women end in the men's place, we decided to have a repeat, so that they can return to their original positions. As is usual, a repeat is only specified in NYp, Fn and Fl.

Music Notes

We made several small changes to the music for this dance.

First, in Bar 8, the third and fourth notes were written as minimae rather than semibreves. Two interpretations are possible. Ours is to assume that the only two minimae in the entire section were errors and treat them as semibreves. The other possibility is that they are minimae and there is a semibrevis missing in the notes that follow. In that case, the most logical change would be to add one more G to complete the bar. The literal transcription of this bar and the alternative interpretation are shown below.

Next, in Bar 12 either a note is missing or the rest should be twice as long. We chose to add another D, as we felt that flowed better than a half-note rest would.

Finally, in Bar 17, the second eighth note is our addition to produce a complete bar. Sparti adds a note before the G instead of after; this interpretation is supported by PnA (according to A. William Smith).

A literal transcription of PnG follows.