Previous postings for March 17th may be found here: Josef Rheinberger (2019), Michael Finnissy (2020), Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre (2021), Nat King Cole (2022), Rudolf Nureyev (2023), and Alfred Newman (2024)
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Thoinot Arbeau (pen name for Jehan Tabourot) (17 March 1520 – 23 July 1595) is most famous for his Orchésographie, a study of late sixteenth-century French Renaissance social dance.
Shall We Dance?
Orchésographie (1589) provides information on social ballroom behaviour and on the interaction of musicians and dancers. It contains numerous woodcuts of dancers and musicians and includes many dance tabulations in which extensive instructions for the steps are lined up next to the musical notes. – adapted from Wikipedia.
This is all you need to know
About the oeuvre of Arbeau:
His Orchésographie enhances
Our knowledge of the social dances
Engaged in by the lads and lasses
Of sixteenth century leisured classes;
It offers up a choice assortment
Of dance steps with approved deportment,
From which we safely can infer he
Acted much like Arthur Murray.
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