APOLLO'S REVELS

Apollo's Revels is a group that explores the connections between dance and music. There was a time when dancing and music were considered essential parts of a rounded education, alongside a knowledge of science and poetry, swordsmanship and art. Dancing teachers were often musicians, and musicians often accomplished dancers, so the two disciplines were closely intertwined. Nowadays if one is lucky enough to study either, it is usually one or the other, rarely both, and the revival and recreation of historical practice in each field is honed and developed in isolation. In truth, both are missing out. If we can know how a sarabande was danced, how much more will it come to life if danced to the live music of a sarabande, and if a composer followed a prelude with two minuets and a gigue, how much better might we understand and communicate that suite if we understand the physical movement that those titles could imply. Music and dance are both languages, capable of expressing joy,..