The pavane is a processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century. It appears in dance manuals in England, France, and Italy. In addition to being a form of dance, it is also a form of music, often paired with a galliard, and survived in that form for hundreds of years after it was no longer danced.
As a dance, the pavane was often used by a single couple as a processional. In Thoinot Arbeau's French dance manual, it is generally an improvised dance, with the dancers throwing in ornamentation (divisions) of the steps. In the English Measure manuscripts, the pavane is one of several similar dances classed as measures, and is simple and choreographed. In Italian sources, the pavane is often a fairly complicated dance, with galliard and other sections.
The step used in the pavane survives to the modern day in the hesitatation step sometimes used in weddings.
Modern musical compositions using the name:
- The Classical music piece "Pavane for a Dead Princess" by Maurice Ravel
- The Classical music piece "Pavane" by Gabriel FAURÉ
- Jazz standard "Pavane" by (?)
Pavane is also the name of an alternate history novel by Keith Roberts, in which a militant faction of the Roman Catholic Church has taken control of England following the assassination of Queen Elizabeth I.
