Background
He may have been born in Spain, probably before 1440, but was associated with Pesaro. Little is known of his life.
He may have been born in Spain, probably before 1440, but was associated with Pesaro. Little is known of his life.
He studied with Domenico da Piacenza, founder of a new school of dancing, whose mastery he acknowledged in his treatise on dance (1463), and many of whose dances he incorporated in his own work.
The two men collaborated in creating and organizing the wedding festivities of Costanzo Sforza and Camilla d’Aragona in Pesaro (1475). The Jews of Pesaro participated in the occasion, passing the bridal pair with great pomp, bearing a wooden elephant on which sat the queen of Sheba on a golden throne. When she reached the bride and groom, the queen of Sheba delivered an address in Hebrew and presented the couple with the Jewish community’s wedding gift. She was followed by a character who gave a further address beseeching the favor of the rulers for the Jewish community, and then came 120 young people doing special dances choreographed by Guglielmo.
It is possible that Guglielmo later converted to Christianity. He traveled extensively, teaching “social dances” and arranging festive dances in many cities, including Milan, Mantua, Urbino, Bologna, Naples, and Venice. A miniature in the National Library in Paris, showing a man and two women dancing elegantly to the accompaniment of a harp, is believed to depict Guglielmo and two of his pupils. It seems that in his later years he was sent to the court in Naples to teach the fashionable Milanese dance, ballo lombardo, and to the court of Ferrara where, in 1481, he taught ballet to the future Isabella d’Este.
In his treatise, "Trattato del’arte de ballo" (Treatise on the art of dancing), he lists the essentials of dance: misura (musicality and keeping time to the music), memoria (remembering the sequence of steps), patire del terrano (judging the extent of the space), aiere (control of body mo vement), maniere (style and coordination of foot and direction — technique), and movemento (moving with grace). He describes numerous dances and gives one of the most complete descriptions of the dances of the Italian renaissance.
Quotes from others about the person
He was said, by a contemporary, to have “excelled all men in dance.”