Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro (William the Hebrew…

Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro (William the Hebrew of Pesaro) is one of the earliest choreographers and one of several Jewish dancing masters of the time whose surname acknowledges their ethnic heritage.

A favorite of Lorenzo il Magnifico, the Medici ruler of Florence, Guglielmo teaches dancing and produces fetes at various Italian courts.

He writes a number of important treatises, among them Tratto della danza (Way of the Dance) and De Praticha seu arte tripudii vulghare opusculum (The Practice and Art of Sacred and Profane Dance), in which he outlines the qualifications for a dancer and describes his own works and those of his master, Domenico de Piacenza.