Sobria

This is a dance for 5 men and one lady, in 3 couples. The lady is in the middle couple. The reconstruction is by Rachael Zavodnyik.

Part 1 (Saltarello)	1	Movimento	Movimento – this should probably be done as a quick riverenza.
	2 – 15	SlL SlR x 7	Everyone does 14 saltarelli forwards.

Part 2 (Piva)	1 – 4	Rp x 4	The two male couples do 4 riprese to form a square, while the middle couple stands still.
	5 – 7	Pv x 3	The man and lady in the middle couple circle each other with 3 piva steps, while the other couples stand still.
	8 – 9	Pv x 2	The lady alone does 2 piva to finish in the center of the square, while her partner stands still.
	10	Mv	The lady performs a mezavolta, to finish facing the back of her partner.

Part 3 (Bassadanza)	1	DR	First male couple perform a doppio towards the woman on the right foot.
	2	RvL	First male couple and woman perform a riverenza on the left foot
	3	Touch	First male couple move as if to touch the lady’s hand at the same time and the woman draws back a little indignant, and all three turn their backs on each other.
	4	Mv	The men perform a mezavolta with a salteto (small jump).
	5 – 6	DL Posada Vt	They return to their places with a doppio on the right foot ending with a posada facing one another, and the woman performs a volta while they are performing the doppio.
	7	DR	Second male couple perform a doppio towards the woman on the right foot.
	8	RvL	Second male couple and woman perform a riverenza on the left foot
	9	Touch	Second male couple move as if to touch the lady’s hand at the same time and the woman draws back a little indignant, and all three turn their backs on each other.
	10	Mv	The men perform a mezavolta with a salteto (small jump).
	11 - 12	DL Posada Vt	They return to their places with a doppio on the right foot ending with a posada facing one another, and the woman performs a volta while they are performing the doppio.

Part 4 (Piva)	1	SL SR	man and woman approaching each other perform 2 sempio beginning on the left
	2	DL	continuing doppio
	3	Rv	they perform a small fast riverentia touching hands
	4-5	DR	they return to their places with a doppio beginning on the right
	6	Mv	the woman faces towards the couple at the rear and the man faces forward

Part 5 (Bassadanza) This section is indicated in quadenaria in the Domenico da Piacenza manuscript. However the music that we have has no quadernaria section.	1-2	SlL SlR SlR	The first male couple perform three saltarellos toward each other (at the end of the second they have changed places and at the end of the third they are behind the woman’s back side by side). Whilst standing side by side the one on the left signals to the one on the right and the one on the right signals back that he doesn’t want to do it.
	3	Mv Mv	the woman senses the hand movements (movimento) and performs a mezavolta (this means she is now facing the back) scowling and the men turn their backs on one another at the same time
	4	Salto SlR	the men perform a salto and swap places with each other in a tempo of salterello beginning on the right foot
	5	Mv Posa	they perform a mezavolta and a possa and stop.

Part 6 (Piva) ??

There are no steps indicated for this section in Domenico. A repeat of the first piva section where the man and woman are dancing alone could be put in here unless other music is found. Thought about dividing the Piva to fit in with Bazza Danza ie to get a 6/6 bar split to do the two male couple (repeated) sections, however, looking at the available music, the steps will not fit adequately.

These steps could be modified (as the woman is now a considerable distance from her partner, and facing in the opposite direction - they could do similar steps yet at a distance. Looking at the dance that is described as the opposite of Sobria (Mercanzia), this dance is performed three times so that each of the men gets a chance to ‘woo’ (?) the lady. Since Sobria is supposed to reflect ‘the sensible’ lady, it would seem to be consistent (given this particular arrangement) that she long to be back in the company of her original suitor. Since the four other men try to continually undermine her efforts...

1	SL SR	man and woman approaching each other perform 2 sempio beginning on the left
2	DL	continuing doppio
3	Rv	they perform a small fast riverentia touching hands
4-5	DR	they return to their places with a doppio beginning on the right
6	Mv	the woman faces towards the couple at the rear and the man faces forward

Part 7 (Bassadanza) This is a repeat of part 5, with the second male couple acting.	1-2	SlL SlR SlR	The second male couple perform three saltarellos toward each other (at the end of the second they have changed places and at the end of the third they are behind the woman’s back side by side). Whilst standing side by side the one on the left signals to the one on the right and the one on the right signals back that he doesn’t want to do it.
	3	Mv Mv	The lady senses the hand movements (movimento) and performs a mezavolta (this means she is now facing the back) scowling and the men turn their backs on one another at the same time
	4	Salto SlR	the men perform a salto and swap places with each other in a tempo of salterello beginning on the right foot
	5	Mv Posa	they perform a mezavolta and a possa and stop.

Part 8 (Saltarello)

1-8

SlL SlR x 4

The lady, now standing at the back of the formation (facing back), and the man now standing at the front of the formation perform at the same time.

The lady from the back moves to her right in an “S” formation, and the man, from the front moves to his right in and “S” formation (should move opposite to each other) for 8 measures of saltarello.

They should both end up in the middle of the for man square formation.

9-10

SlL SlR

The lady now performs a voltatonda, circling around herself to 2 tempi of saltarello.

The man now salterellos back to his place at the font (outside the square formation) in 2 tempi of saltarello.

Part 9 (Piva)	1-3	PvL PvR PvL	Four men each exchanges places with their partner in 3 measures of piva
	4	SR	They perform a sempio when they have arrived
		Vt	The man at the front performs a voltatonda in piva at the same time as the others are performing a sempio
	5 – 8	Pv x 4	four men The two at the front swap places with the two at the back man alone The man in the middle goes to the middle of the circle to collect the lady in 4 tempi of piva lady Performs a voltatonda whilst waiting to be collected in the middle.
	9 – 12	Pv x 4	four men 4 represe towards each other in 4 tempi of piva. man and lady together The man and the lady in the middle go out of the now closing in square in 4 tempi of piva for fear of being trapped.