16th Century Dance Forms

The increasingly diverse repertory of dances in the 16th century is reflected in the large variety of dance compositions in the collections of lute, keyboard, and ensemble music of the time.  As in the 15th century, the starting point was usually a twin arrangement of a slow-moving main dance followed by a lively jumping dance.  Among such pairs are the Italian bassadanza-saltarello and the Franco-Burgundian basse-danse-pas de breban, and the later Italian passamezzo-saltarello, as well as the suite-like combinations such as basse danse-recoupe-tourdion and pavana-saltarello-piva.