Marchesana, by Domenico. One couple. Difficulty = Level 3

Steps:Sempio (in 6), Doppio (in 4 and 6), Saltarello (in 4), Continenza (in 6), Ripresa (in 6), Movimento, Mezavolta, Voltatonda.

Starting Position
Start:Couple side by side, holding hands, facing up the hall, Woman on the right.
Section I (2 bars in 4/4 three times, and 2 bars in 4/4)
[Two-bar introduction on accompanying tape]

Bars 9-10
1-2 (3 times) \ 8 Saltarelli, starting Left. Drop hands.
3-4 /
(The last two bars, 3 and 4, sound like the beginning of the next section, so it is easy to get mixed up here.)
Section II (2 bars in 4/4, twice)

Bar 11
5Man Step Left, Step Right, Step Left, stamping feet.
6 Man Saltarello Right.
5-6 (2nd time) Woman the same, to catch up. Take hands.
Section III (13 bars in 6/4)

Bars 15-16
7-8 Ripresa Left, Ripresa Right, drop hands and take right hands.
9-10 Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left, circling clockwise. (They are approximately back to where they started, except Man is facing up the hall, and Woman down.)
11 Ripresa Right, dropping hands. (Their left shoulders are now closer together.)
12-13 Sempio Left, Sempio Right, Doppio Left, holding left hands, circling counterclockwise.
(They are in the same position as at the end of Bar 11.)
14 Ripresa Right, dropping hands. (Man is facing up the hall, Woman down, slightly to the left of each other.)
15-16 Doppio Left, Doppio Right, passing left shoulders, away from each other, ending with a Mezavolta Right. (They are now about 12 steps apart, Man facing down the hall, Woman up.)
17-18 Ripresa Left, Ripresa Right.

Bar 21 (2nd time)
19 Continenza Left, Continenza Right.
Section IV (2 bars in 4/4 twice, then 2 bars in 4/4)
20 Man Movimento, then Woman Movimento.
21 Doppio Left toward each other.

Bar 22
20 (2nd time) Woman Movimento, then Man Movimento.
21 (2nd time) Doppio Right. (They are back together, right shoulders close.)
22Doppio Left, Man doing a Mezavolta, and Woman a Voltatonda, both turning clockwise and exchanging places.
23Leap forward onto the Right foot, and bring Left foot beside right, ending with weight on both feet. Remain still for the remainder of the bar. (Dancers are side by side, Man on the left.)

Recordings

Mesura - Four-bar introduction. Section III is fifteen bars long instead of thirteen. A modification which works with this music is to add two reverenze left (Man doing one first, then Woman) at the end of the Section. (This is different than the modification suggested in the 1st edition of Joy and Jealousy, and was changed in 2001.) The last section is only five bars long, so the final leap and pause need to be dropped. In order to end on the correct foot, the doppio of Bar 22 should have four steps instead of the usual three. The dance is repeated.

To Celebrate - Short introduction. Bar 20 is only half a bar so the movimenti will have less time, and Bar 23 is not present, so the doppio of Bar 22 should have four steps instead of the usual three and the final leap and pause should be dropped. The dance is repeated.

Dance Notes

Bar 5: PnD has the man go forward with three frapaminti. The frapaminti are not defined, but are probably roughly equivalent to a step, because the three of them are replaced with a doppio in the other sources. A stamp was chosen as a simple ornamented step.

The frapamento is also mentioned as one of the ornamental steps in PnD and Rvat, and is sometimes used when describing the characteristic ornament of quadernaria.

Bar 14: PnD has a sempio, and says that Section III takes twelve and a half tempi of bassadanza. However thirteen tempi of music are given, and all the other sources have a ripresa here instead. The ripresa was decided upon as easier to remember, and a full bar, as less confusing to musicians, but it is certainly possible that the original dance should have had a sempio with a half tempo of music, instead. (In this case, simply leave out the second half of the measure when playing the music.)

Bar 21 (2nd time): PnD has a doppio on the left foot, but as the next step is on the left, right is easier here. NYp and some of the other sources have also changed the doppio to the right.

Alternate Bar 22

Bar 22: PnD only says that the doppio is done turning, while the woman's voltatonda and the man's mezavolta are found in NYp. No direction is specified for the turn. PnD describes the dancers as ending side by side as they started. This is taken to mean that the man is on the left, but it may only indicate that they are side by side and facing the same way as they started. The version in NYp says that the woman remains in front, which may mean that she finishes on the left side, and the dance is then repeated.

If a repeat is desired then this bar can be modified so that the dancers do not change places, ending the dance in the reverse position of the start. Have the dancers rotate counterclockwise instead, returning to the same place as where they started the bar. This will leave the woman on the left.

Bar 23: The timing of the final leap is uncertain, and it may belong at the end of the doppio in Bar 22. However, we felt that the leap and posada which follows it were too much to put on one beat, so we moved them to the following bar. In NYp the leap dissappears, and there is only an instruction to put the point of the right foot forward at the end of the doppio; this is probably equivalent to PnD's posada.

PnD has a posada after the leap, and we are interpreting this, and posa, as meaning a close of the feet, ending with weight on both feet, and a pause. (See also the notes for Sobria and Tesara.)

Music Notes

We have made the following changes to the music.

First, the text in PnD calls for eight bars in the opening section, but there are only four bars of music. PnG includes a "3" for this section, and PnD preceeds this section with the Roman numeral "III" written on the staff (not below it). This is not the usual way of indicating repetitions in PnD, but a "II" is also used later (under the music this time). With all that in mind, we have indicated that the first section should be played three times.

Second, there appear to be notes missing from Bar 4; the bar is short by the length of one semibrevis (or two minimae). We have added two notes to this bar, indicated in the music above with asterisks.

Third, PnD provides 13 bars of bassadanza music but the choreography is 12.5 bars long. There is a lone sempio (in Bar 14 of the choreography) that accounts for this difference. There are, therefore, two ways to handle the discrepancy: shorten the music or lengthen the steps. We have replaced the sempio with a ripresa in the dance instructions above. If you would rather use the given steps and change the music, omit the note marked with a pair of asterisks above.

Finally, the music does not contain a clef; we have inferred a C clef in the standard place.