The Pastoral Mode as a Natural Element for Dance

The pastoral mode, which allowed Early Modern artists to innovate, whether stylistically, generically or philosophically, played a pivotal role in the constitution of courtly entertainment, theatre and opera. Drawing examples from the French ballet de cour and tragédie en musique, Universityof Toronto Professor Benoît Bolducwill discuss general issues of the pastoral, particularly its peculiar treatment of fiction and artifice, in order to explore the scope that this mode provides for choreographic invention within the poetic rules of French Classicism.