Ewart, Charlotte. "The Estampies: Should we accept the current perception?"

Ewart, Charlotte. "The Estampies: Should we accept the current perception?" In Perception and Reception of Early Dance [Proceedings of the Early Dance Circle Conference held on 18-20 May 2018], edited by Barbara Segal and Sharon Butler, 27-35. Cambridge: Early Dance Circle, 2020.

URL: https://www.earlydancecircle.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/3-Charlotte-Ewart-26-10-2020.pdf


Abstract:
There is a general acceptance that the mysterious medieval dance form, the Estampie, was a high status stately couple dance, some view it as a forerunner to the Basse form. At least that is how it is perceived but is there any evidence to support that perception? Delving into the challenging distant medieval world of which only patchy information is still available, this paper will explore and question that accepted perception of a slow stately couple dance. Using Le Manuscript du Roi as a case study and examining the range of musical and iconographic sources and importantly, contemporary accounts of dance and performance, new theories of what the Estampie may have been, can be hypothesised. While we may never find conclusive evidence to categorically be certain which one interpretation is the ‘authentic’ one, this paper will challenge the evidence that supports the existing perception and offer alternative readings of the dance form.