Ken Pierceteaches these classes and workshops for online and in-person learners Tuesdays and select weekends. Each session focuses on an aspect of early dance - whether a certain set of dances or steps, these workshops are designed to link explore the ideas and movement of ballet’s predecessors. The term “Baroque Dance” refers to European ballroom and theatrical dance of the late 17th and early 18th centuries --- the precursor to today’s ballet, as danced by both amateurs and professionals at the time of Louis XIV of France. Because dance played a prominent role in society during this period, dancing masters developed dance notation systems and published treatises that provide detailed descriptions of steps used in baroque dance. Thus, we are able to reconstruct baroque dance steps and choreographies with a satisfying degree of accuracy.

Baroque dance is early ballet: it uses turnout and a vertical carriage of the body, just as ballet does. It involves lots of bending and rising, small jumps, and low extensions. Movements can be light and quick, or more sustained; either way, control and placement are important. Connection to the music is crucial. See our 2026 - 2027 offerings below.

Each class includes a warmup followed by practice of basic steps and step sequences typical of different dance types (such as bourrée, gavotte, sarabande, gigue, or menuet). Classes are designed for adults or older teens. Online or in person at the studio. One hour thirty minutes.

open Baroque dance -  Tuesdays 7PM

Weekend workshops

Past Workshops

• Gagliarda di Spagna

• LMC 1900 Chaconne de M. Feuillet

• Step sequences or patterns found in Barriera, as found in Carroso

• Gigue Anglaise danced by Mlle. Subligny in Angleterre (LMC 5020)

• Caroso’s Alta Vittoria

• Pécour (LMC 4620)

• Canary Steps and Variations

• “The Old Canary”

• Baroque for Ballet Dancers

• Negri’s “Pavaniglia alla Romana”

• “Passo e mezzo” from Caroso (1581)

• "The Old Pavane"

Ken Pierce trained in ballet and modern dance, studying on scholarship at both the American Ballet Theatre School and the Merce Cunningham studio. He has specialized in early dance—especially, late-Renaissance and Baroque dance—for the past three decades, as choreographer, reconstructor, performer, and teacher. Companies he has performed with include the Court Dance Company of New York, the New York Baroque Dance Company, Ris et Danceries (Paris), Danse Baroque Toronto, and the baroque dance trio Hémiole (Paris), of which he was a co-founder. He directs his own company, the Ken Pierce Historical Dance Projects (formerly Ken Pierce Baroque Dance Company), for which he has choreographed or reconstructed dances for performances with Tafelmusik, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen, The King’s Noyse, Handel & Haydn Society, and the Boston Early Music Festival. Choreographic credits include dances for Les Élémens, Les Festes d’Hébé, Tirsi e Clori, and les Festes de l’Amour et de Bacchus; King Arthur at the Boston Early Music Festival, and such twentieth-century premières as Le Carnavale Mascarade; Les Plaisirs de Versailles, with Ex Machina Baroque Opera Ensemble; the masque Oberon, at Case Western Reserve University; and le Mariage de la Grosse Cathos at the Amherst Early Music Festival. He was assistant choreographer for Quelques pas graves de Baptiste, Francine Lancelot’s baroque-style piece for the Paris Opera Ballet, whose cast included Rudolph Nureyev. Mr. Pierce has taught at summer dance and music workshops in the U.S. and abroad. He directs the early dance program at the Longy School of Music of Bard College (Cambridge), and teaches classes and workshops in the Boston area.