Medieval Dances at the Castle: New Date Sunday November 11th @ 11am – 1pm

Sunday, November 11th, in the Piazzale delle Barrozze, from 11.00 to 13.00 will take place an event of re-enactment by the medieval dance company “I Vireali” returning to the castle by proposing a repertoire inspired by the reconstruction of dances taken from texts of the period from the XIII at the XV century. In the High Middle Ages the dance of the nobles was still very similar to that of the peasants, as a particular expression of the ritual feasts of the population. In the XIV century we find some typical types of dance such as saltarello, virelai, carola, farandola, estampida. The medieval dances were simple, based on rhythmic steps and repeated figures, performed in a circle or in a row: they are the carols (in a circle) and making them (in a row) where all the people take each other’s hands. The Vireali, which gives the name to the company, is assumed to be a dance combined with texts on courtly love and was configured as a courtship dance danced by the couple. Some believe that the term virelai means the music of Vire (that is, Norman music), rather than derives from the verb virer which means to twist and therefore hypothesize a reconstruction of the dance basing it on the alternating change of the front. In reality the origin of the virelai is unknown and rather its characteristic lies in the structure of the song.