Women and the dance in Seville's processions during the golden age

Abstract

During Spain's Golden Age-a time span roughly encompassing sixteenth century and first two-thirds of seventeenth-a union of religious fervor, civic pride, and sensual delight carried city of Seville through a period that has been called the century of processions.1 Although luster of Golden Age was beginning to dim by mid to late 1600s, apogee of processions' brilliance and frequency was actually reached during last hundred years of that age. At that time Seville was a center of power, not only in Spain but also abroad, administering both trade and religious activity in rich Spanish colonies of New World. With its wealth and cosmopolitan influences, city became a center of popular culture and celebration as well. For townspeople and their civil governors, rejoicing was inextricably bound up with physical expression-theatre, dance, music, and brilliant visual display-while many of Seville's clergy and prelates agreed that dance, drama, and music were essential ingredients of public religious celebration. Thus, in this period a major component of any processional celebration, be it religious or civil, was a display of spectacular dances, commissioned by Seville's municipal government and approved by city's top-ranking prelates. These dances were performed in city's cathedral and also at spots designated along parade route. Remarkably, at a time when women were barred from public stages of England and were still far inferior