Katherina Weyssin's blog

There was fencing! With new people and everything! Yay!

"Barriera" was a popular 16thC Italian dance (or so it seems, from the number of sources that record it). It came up in conversation, because we were talking about having Combat at the Barriers for our upcoming event. We practiced the version for one couple, from Caroso's Il Ballarino.

In the hour after the open dance class Mistress Katherina Weyssin looks at some more difficult material with her advanced students. All are welcome to stay and watch; participation is by invitation, and may depend on the style.

We had a quick run through Pavaniglia - the dance we practiced intensively over summer, and performed at CF - and talked through our performace, what went well, where we fell down. Overall, we're pleased with how we did, and want to keep this one ready to perform again.

We talked through the ball at CF - which dances worked well, how we'd change both the ball and the way we danced.

Present: Katherina, William, Anna, Caterine

Warm up: Almains?

Main Session: Pavaniglia

We spent the greater part of the class alternating between dancing all the way through Pavaniglia (one couple at a time), and practicing some easier dance (La Figlia de Guglielmino, Pungente Dardo, Ginevra, Amoroso).

Present: Anna, William, Caterine, Katherina

Warm up: Earl of Essex Measure, Old Alman, Black Almain.

Present: Anna, William, Caterine, Ludwig, Katherina

Warm-up: Ginevra, Amoroso (including an improvised 3-person variant)

Main Session - Negri's Canary

Revision of all mutanze learned so far:

Present: Anna, William, Caterine, Katherina

Warmup: Amoroso, La Figlia de Guglielmino

Main Session - Pavaniglia

Revision of

• first two structural verses
• first and second mutanze
• forth mutanza

Skimmed through the third and fifth mutanze. Danced the whole thing through several times, including all verses.

NOTE: we need a more detailed revision of the 5th mutanza, the separating verse, and the final verse.

Present: William, Anna, Caterine, Katherina

Warmup: Figlia de Guglielmino, Chiara Stella

Main Session : Canario

New material (for at least some present)

• Man's first mutanza
• Man's second mutanza (including ritirata, which we hadn't previously done with any success)
• new interpretation of the seguito spezzato in Canario

Katherina practiced her current interpretation of the man's third mutanza, which she'll teach next time.

Revision:

Shed day is taking a break for a while. However, we're now incuding a wider range of arts at "Sewing", including armouring, leatherwork, and wood-work, as well as more traditional quiet indoor activities.