The Early Dance Circle offers a rare opportunity to hear Dr Jennifer Nevile talk about her research.

In Renaissance Europe, theatrical spectacles performed in front of the monarch and court carried serious political messages regarding the relationship – both real and hoped for – between the monarch and the state. Contemporary accounts of these events often offer fulsome praise for the costumes, dancing, scenery, stage machines and songs. A successful performance greatly enhanced a country’s reputation on the international stage. Much more was at stake than an evening’s entertainment.

Yet then, as now, such multi-media events encountered problems, in rehearsal and performance. These form the focus of this paper, followed by an examination of the response of the spectators to such disasters. Did performance problems change the dynamics between performers and spectators? This is especially interesting when the king, queen or members of the ruling family were involved, either directly as dancers, or indirectly as the audience member to whom the spectacle was addressed.

Speaker Dr Jennifer Nevile, Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales and esteemed author of many books on Renaissance dance, outlines the desire in European courts for great success, and what efforts went into achieving this, before recounting some of the disasters -- noise and over-crowding, stage-fright, properties too big to fit into the hall, and even fire. Finally, audience reactions are examined to such disasters, and the effects felt on the dynamics between audience and performers.

Delivered via Zoom, Dr Nevile will be joining us from Australia. Her books include 'The Eloquent Body: Dance and Humanist Culture in Fifteenth-Century Italy' (2004) and 'Dance, Spectacle and the Body Politick, 1250-1750' (2008).

This lecture is brought to you by The Early Dance Circle, a UK charity that aims to promote the enjoyment, performance and study of historical dance in the UK and beyond.