Dance as a Discourse: The rhetorical expression of the passions in French Baroque dance

The process of reviving and recreating Baroque dance and music has for a long time been imbued with compromises. In dance, the challenge of bringing to life a language of movement codified into several steps and enigmatic floor patterns is often based on suppositions rather than on research. Equally in music, the lack of information by practitioners and scholars regarding the character, tempi, style and technique required in the performance of dance music often leads to unsatisfying results. This book intends to help revert this scenario, providing historical evidence of the connection between music, dance and rhetoric. It establishes, through the cross- reference of primary sources and analyses of original music and choreographic notation, a sub- genre of French theatrical dances structured according to a logical oratorical frame. From this, it identifies the function of certain figures in the light of oratory and rhetoric. These findings elucidate unexplored aspects of the performance practice of Baroque works, providing tools for choreographers, musicians, musicologists and scholars interested in an historically informed performance.

ARAM, PhD, Diploma RAM, Cert GSMD, BMus; undertook research at the University of Hull and at the Royal Academy of Music London. Ricardo Barros leads an international career as Baroque dancer, choreographer, harpsichordist, stage director & designer and independent academic. He is the artistic director of Mercurius Company in London.