There would be no instrumental Baroque music as we know it without dancing. So says Salut! Baroque co-founder Tim Blomfield who, for the ensemble’s latest concert Invitation to the Dance, calls on Sydney Baroque Ballet Director Aimee Brown to demonstrate the steps of the bourées, gigues, courantes and sarabandes familiar to us through works by Handel, Bach, Lully and Corelli. Originally dance was accompanied by voices until someone realised instruments were so much more effective and versatile. Nowadays, audiences are divided between those who go to the ballet and those who attend symphony concerts, but it wasn’t always that way as this concert eloquently demonstrated. As an opener, Brown takes us on a quick Cook’s tour with the aid of the 11-piece band and Jean-Féry Rebel’s Les carictères de la danse from 1715. She looks like she has just stepped out of a Goya painting in her light apricot 18th century-style dress with sky blue trimmings and cream low-heeled ballet shoes, all topped off by an ostrich feather in her hair, which will later be swapped for a floral headpiece and a sparkling tiara. She studied ballet for 15 years before setting up her own company six years ago and … Continue reading Invitation to the Dance (Salut! Baroque)