The Pastorall

This ballroom dance for one couple, preserved in Feuillet natation, was choreographed by English dancing master Mr. Isaac (c. 1640-c. 1720) to music composted by James Paisible (d. 1721). The fourteen couplet dance begins in 6/4 and changes to a hornpipe on the ninth couplet. The dance notation system, first published by dancing master Raoul-Auger Feuillet (1659 or 1660-1710), is based on tract drawings that trace the pattern of the dance. Additionally, bar lines in the dance score correspond to bar lines in the music score. Signs written on the right- or left-hand side of the tract indicate the steps. The dance was notated by dancing master E. Pemberton, who urged that all dancing masters who had not learned the "characters of dancing" (Feuillet notation) either through "prejudice or mistaken notions" should do so as "it is necessary as the notes of music."