ABSTRACT
Sixteenth-century choreographers recognised the importance of a performer’s awareness of the space in which s/he was to dance. They understood that such spaces could vary from the simple reorganisation of a hall after dinner to elaborate purpose-built structures designed for complex choreographic display. The former brought spectators close to the performers, while the latter introduced greater distance between them and changed the nature of choreographic art. This chapter explores the variety of spaces available for danced spectacle by focusing on re-arranged rooms in bourgeois houses (Bordeaux 1575, Cambrai 1577), transformed gardens and courtyards in princely palaces (Amboise 1518, Fontainebleau 1546) to lavish theatre structures made by great artists (Leonardo da Vinci 1490) and new theatres created for the Duke of Ferrara (1549) or for Henri II (Paris 1559). By the end of the century, Italian engineers had transformed dancing space in France, erecting spectacular scenes which changed the art of dancing from a participatory event to a spectacle to be admired from afar.
