2. The golden years
The reign of Henry 8th and life in Tudor England explored through movement and dance.
2. The golden years
Henry was married to Catherine of Aragon - his first wife - for almost 20 years. They were the perfect royal couple and the people rejoiced as the years of restraint under Henry VII appeared to have ended.
Henry and Catherine regularly travelled around their kingdom to assert sovereignty and win the loyalty of subjects. These royal progresses also provided opportunities to hunt, avoid the plague (that thrived in cities) and to share the cost of maintaining the court with richer subjects.
Go to the Teacher's Notes to download the Tudor music clips used in this unit.
Resources
Lesson summary
Warm up: Tudor Tennis. Add some fancy footwork to the exaggerated arm-swinging tennis moves practised in the previous programme.
Sequence 1: The Royal Progress. Couples line up one behind the other to form a long, class procession which travels majestically round the edge of the room using ‘The Pavan’ step pattern.
Sequence 2: Village Circle Dance. In group circles of 8 or 10. Country dancing was simpler and more repetitive than the dances of the Royal Court. Many of the dances were associated with traditional customs and rituals, such as dancing round the Maypole.
Performance: Both of today’s sequences are linked for a final performance.
Cool down: Slow, relaxed steps taking deep, gentle breaths to travel through the spaces - imagine you are walking home along a warm, starlit country lane after a long day of dancing at the village fair.
