Origins of Ballet.

The ballo enters more fully into the area of what we would think of as theatrical dance or ballet. Although the ballo employs the same basic steps as the bassadanza, it is quite different in its overall format and in the number of step variations. Instead of being danced at a single steady tempo and measure, as are the bassadanza and the basse danse, the ballo is made up of an irregular series of up to four different tempos (called misura), each having a different kind of rhythmic organization and speed. The tempos, from slowest to fastest, were bassadanza, quaternaria, saltarello, and piva. The changes of tempo result in a large variation in the natural steps. For example, a saltarello doppio, which involves a small hop as well as a stepping motion, moves quite a bit faster than a bassadanza doppio because the...