author
active 17th century Juan de Esquivel Navarro
Known today through a rare 1642 dance manual from Seville, this Spanish dancing master offers a vivid glimpse of courtly movement and manners in the 17th century. His surviving work makes him an unusual and valuable witness to how dance was taught, defended, and described in early modern Spain.
1 Audiobook
Discursos sobre el arte del dançado y sus exelencias y primer origen, reprobando las acciones deshonestas
by active 17th century Juan de Esquivel Navarro
About the author
Active in the 17th century and associated with Seville, Juan de Esquivel Navarro is remembered as a Spanish dancer and writer on dance. He is chiefly known for publishing Discursos sobre el arte del dançado in 1642, a work that discusses the art of dancing and describes court dances.
Because so little biographical information appears to survive, he is known more through his book than through details of his personal life. That scarcity makes the work itself especially important: it preserves ideas about dance technique, decorum, and the cultural value of dancing in Baroque Spain.
For modern readers, Esquivel Navarro stands out as one of those figures whose reputation rests on a single surviving text—yet that text opens a small but fascinating window onto the social world of 17th-century performance.