Moresca (Italian), morisca (Spanish), mourisca (Portuguese) or moresque, mauresque (French), also known in French as the danse des bouffons, is a dance of exotic character encountered in Europe in the Renaissance period. This dance usually took form of medieval wars in Spain between Moors and Christians and is related to the Spanish Moors and Christians festivals. Elements of moresca include blackening of the face, bells attached to the costumes and, in occasions, men disguised as women to portray fools. An example of the moresca can be seen in

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (; 12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019) was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post–World War II e ...

's 1968 production of ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'', which has a scene with both Juliet and Romeo dancing the moresca in a circle. In the 15th century, the moresca is the most-often mentioned dance type in literature. On the rare occasions other dances (such as the

basse danse The ''basse danse'', or "low dance", was a popular court dance in the 15th and early 16th centuries, especially at the Duchy of Burgundy, Burgundian court. The word ''basse'' describes the nature of the dance, in which partners move quietly and ...

saltarello The ''saltarello'' is a musical dance originally from Italy. The first mention of it is in Add MS 29987, a late-fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century manuscript of Tuscany, Tuscan origin, now in the British Library. It was usually played in a f ...

, or

piva Piva may refer to: Locations * Piva (Drina), a river in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina * Piva, Montenegro, a region in Montenegro and tribe * Lake Piva, a reservoir in Montenegro * Piva River, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea * Piva Trail ...

) are mentioned, the moresca is almost invariably described as well. In its early manifestation it appears in two forms: as a

solo dance A solo dance is a dance done by an individual dancing alone, as opposed to couples dancing together but independently of others dancing at the same time, if any, and as opposed to groups of people dancing simultaneously in a coordinated manner. ...

, and as a couple or group dance in which the dancers mime a sword combat between Christians and Muslims. The moresca continues to be danced in Spain, Corsica, and Guatemala, and the name as well as certain characteristics of the choreography are related to the English

Morris dance Morris dancing is a form of English folklore, English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers in costume, usually wearing bell pads on their shins, their shoes or both. A ban ...

.) The term moresca was also applied to ballet or pantomimic dance in opera by the 17th century. Some examples include: the moresca at the end of Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607). The ‘Entrée de' Mori’ at the end of Act 2 of Handel's Ariodante (1735) portrays an eccentric musical character that links it to the moresca tradition. Moresca (Italian for: Moorish song) is also a musical genre that caricatured Black Africans. This genre is related to the

villanella In music, a villanella (; plural villanelle) is a form of light Neapolitan secular vocal music which originated in the Kingdom of Naples just before the middle of the 16th century. It first appeared in Naples, and influenced the later canzonetta ...

, a song that imitates lyric Neapolitan traditions of the street and countryside that became popular in the 1530s (see moresche, which is the Italian plural of moresca). This popular genre in 16th century had texts that parody the speech of Moors, later defined as Muslims or narrowly as inhabitants of the

Barbary Coast The Barbary Coast (also Barbary, Berbery, or Berber Coast) were the coastal regions of central and western North Africa, more specifically, the Maghreb and the Ottoman borderlands consisting of the regencies in Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, a ...

. This genre originally had strong references to African style in music, like the accented eight notes and staccato rhythms.

Etymology

The term is ultimately derived from the name of the

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

(from the Spanish ''Moros''), a historic people in the western Mediterranean. Other similarly derived words include Blackamoor, Kammermohr, Matamoros,

Maure A Moor's head, also known as a Maure, since the 11th century, is a symbol depicting the head of a black moor. The term moor came to define anyone who was African and Muslim. Origin The precise origin of the Moor's head as a heraldic symbol is ...

, Mohr im Hemd, Moresche,

Moresque Moresque is an obsolete alternative term to "Moorish" in English, and in the arts has some specific meanings. By itself, the word is used to describe the stylized plant-based forms of tendrils and leaves found in ornament and decoration in the ...

Moreška Moreška is a traditional sword dance from the town of Korčula, on the Croatian island of the same name in the Adriatic. Dating back hundreds of years, the Moreška is an elaborate production involving two groups of dancers, engaging in a mock b ...

Morianbron Morianbron () is a small bridge in the gardens of the Ulriksdal Palace in Solna, Sweden, named after the pair of sculptures of so-called blackamoors (e.g. black Moors) standing by the bridge. Arguably the smallest bridge in the Swedish capital, i ...

Morisco ''Moriscos'' (, ; ; "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain commanded to forcibly convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed Islam. Spain had a sizeable Mus ...

Moros y cristianos ''Moros y Cristianos'' () or ''Moros i Cristians'' (), literally in English Moors and Christians, is a set of festival activities which are celebrated in many towns and cities of Spain, mainly in the southern Valencian Community. According ...

, and

References

Sources * * * *

Etymology

See also

References

Further reading