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Don’t miss the EDC Annual Lecture with Dr Jennifer Nevile

The Early Dance Circle is offering a rare opportunity to hear Dr Jennifer Nevile talk about her research at 10 am – 1 pm on 21 February 2021.

To book, visit Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/edc-annual-lecture-2021-tickets-127473712305.      Or use this Tiny URL link: https://tinyurl.com/EDCLecture2021

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.

Speaker Dr Jennifer Nevile will outline 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).