le je ne scay quoy

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The 17th century is a turning point in the West. The élan provided by the Renaissance is dissipating and the reactionary forces are at work, consider for example the Counter-Reformation.

Nevertheless the human spirit prevails in spite of. This was a time of experimentation with new forms and new ideas. As the saying goes, it got better just before it got much worse and, hélas, finis.

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The Renaissance saw an explosion of methodic madness in the dances. The more licentious would later be banished by the authorities, that then where both religious & secular.

It suffices to feast your eyes in painting like Brughel's "the elder": The Peasant Dance (1568) to understood what was — and is still today — the real "motivation" behind dancing.