Baroque Dance Unmasked

2011 • 48 minutos

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Baroque Dance Unmasked, Workshop to Performance, directed by Catherine Turocy, the renowned Artistic Director of The New York Baroque Dance Company provides a rare look at the artistic process of re-creating dance from a rich historic era. The film includes information about music, fencing, mask work, notation, costumes and the inner life of dance performers working in this dance style, and contains rare footage of Catherine discussing her unique approach to recovering period dance. It also includes music commentary by conductor/harpsichordist James Richman; historical fencing by Master teachers Ramon Martinez and Michael Hewer; mask work with Arne Zaslove; Feuillet notation with Italian early dance specialist Deda Cristina Colonna, as well as comments from performer/teacher perspectives covering choreography, castanets and costumes.

The video also features brilliant performance excerpts which reveal the most important theatrical dance styles of the 18th century: the danse heroique, the demi-caractère, and the comic/grotesque style. The performance excerpts are from the dance-drama: “With Sword Drawn He Dances”. The dancers are in period costume and perform with an original instrument ensemble. This dance-drama was written and directed by Catherine Turocy and filmed by the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts as part of the program: National Initiative to Preserve America’s Dance.