Eh bien, dansez maintenant !

Imagine yourself in the elegant royal court of the French Renaissance, attending a ball with the elite of courtly society. That colourful world will be captured by the French ensemble Doulce Mémoire and dancer Hubert Hazebroucq. Very far from the image we have of ancient dance – hierarchical, starched, solemn – dance in the 15th and 16th centuries was elegant, refined and aristocratic, but also spectacularly virtuosic, theatrical and allegorical in the sumptuous interludes given during princely feasts. Hubert Hazebroucq, invited both by major European festivals as a choreographer and dancer, and by universities as a researcher, will reveal, thanks to his research and his interpretations, what Renaissance dance was at its highest level. Doulce Mémoire, led by Denis Raisin Dadre, has been presenting the music of the Renaissance wind band for over 30 years. The piffari of the 15th and 16th Centuries presented music of the loud consort, or alta cappella, consisting of shawms and sackbuts, and the soft or basse consort, consisting of flutes, recorders and strings. This program will feature both, accompanying the exceptional dancing of Hazebroucq, in a program that will be a visual and aural feast of the lively and tuneful music and dance of the Renaissance.