• The Egg Dance – from moralistic to decorative

    The Egg Dance – from moralistic to decorative

    At approximately the same time as Pieter Aertsen painted The Egg Dance, the prolific Flemish artist Maerten de Vos (also written as Maarten or Marten) designed his own version of the egg dance. The drawing Egg dance outside a tavern is located in the Harvard Art Museum. This artwork, drawn in brown ink on cream Read more

  • The Egg Dance – the skilful dancer

    The Egg Dance – the skilful dancer

    The origin of the Egg Dance goes back a long way. As early as 1498 an egg dance, more an egg dance competition, took place at the marriage festivities of Margaret of Austria and Philibert of Savoy. Apparently, after various couples had attempted the dance, breaking eggs in the process, the Duke of Savoy himself Read more

  • Circles, circles and more circles

    Circles, circles and more circles

    In my previous post, I looked at images of the basse-danse in medieval manuscripts created during the Burgundian era. This post looks at some of the many images of circle dances illustrating secular manuscripts of the Low Countries during the same period. Circle dances have existed since the dawn of civilization; men and women, boys Read more

  • Dance at Court – The Basse-Danse

    Dance at Court – The Basse-Danse

    The court of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy is legendary. Not only were the palatial banquets, the stunning tournaments and the great pageants magnificent, but Philip the Good (1396-1467) was also a great patron of art and culture. Under his patronage the arts, including the art of the illuminated manuscript, thrived. The Duke was Read more

  • Chronicles – Le Bal des Ardents (2)

    Chronicles – Le Bal des Ardents (2)

    28th of January 1393. Charles VI and five courtiers prepared themselves to perform a bizarre dance, at a feast held in honour of the wedding for one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting. They appeared, in a then popular disguise, as wild men dressed from head to foot in garments, according to the chronicler Jean Froissart, ‘made Read more

  • Chronicles – Le Bal des Ardents (1)

    Chronicles – Le Bal des Ardents (1)

    1393. At a feast held by King Charles VI and Queen Isabeau of Bavaria in honour of the wedding of one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, the king together with five courtiers, dressed up as Wild Men to perform a masquerade or, others say, a charivari as part of the court entertainment. Their hairy costumes, which Read more

14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne Adriaen van Ostade Albrecht Dürer Alma-Tadema Anthonie Palamedesz. art Arthurian Legends Bal des Ardents ballet Bergen School Bernard Picart Burgundian Court CoBrA Constant Cornelis Dusart Cornelis Massijs dance Dance around the Golden Calf dancers David Ryckaert III David Teniers the Younger David Vinckboons De Stijl Egg dance Else Berg Erhard Schön Frans Francken II Frans Hals Frans Huysmans George Hendrik Breitner Gertrud Leistikow Gillis Mostaert Haarlem Hans Bol Hans Vredeman de Vries Harmen Meurs Henri Braakensiek Herman Bieling Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Francken the Younger illuminated manuscript Isaac Israels Isaac van Ostade Jacob Grimmer Jacob Savery I Jacobus van Looy Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Mandijn & followers Jan Miense Molenaer Jan Sierhuis Jan Sluijters Jan Steen Jan Toorop Jean-Baptiste Vanmour Jean de Wavrin Jean Froissart Karel Appel Karel van Mander Kees Maks Kees van Dongen Leo Gestel Loyset Liédet Maarten van Heemskerck Maastricht Hours Marius Bauer Marten van Cleve Mommie Schwarz Mondrian Paolo Fiammingo/Pauwels Franck Pieter Aertsen Pieter Balten/Peeter Baltens Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Brueghel the Younger Pieter Codde Pieter de Bloot Pieter van der Borcht Pieter van der Heyden Piet Mondrian Piet van der Hem Romance of Alexander Roman de la Rose Rothschild Canticles Salome Sebald Beham Simon Bening Tango Theo van Doesburg Toer van Schayk Vilmos Huszár Vincent van Gogh Willem de Zwart

About me

As a young aspiring dancer I loved to ponder over the magnificent paintings created by Edgar Degas. How his ballerinas inspired me. The atmosphere of the Paris Opera, the beautiful tutus and the hard working dancers never failed to trigger my imagination. As the years past, I retained my love of dance, of Degas, of art, and developed an interest in knowing more about the cross fertilization between art and dance.

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