Members of the New York Baroque Dance Company will present an immersive lecture and demonstration — with the opportunity for students to learn the minuet and other skills — at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, April 13, in Gym 3 of Carpenter Sports Building.

Admission is free, but a valid UD ID is required for entrance to the building.

Baroque dance specialists Caroline Copeland and Carlos Fittante, in period costuming, will focus on the importance of dance in European Court culture during the 17th and 18th centuries. They will discuss and demonstrate the most popular dances at the French court and opera.

Students will be invited to participate and learn how to stand, walk, bow and perform a basic minuet step, as well as an 18th century French fencing salute with advances and retreats.

Copeland is an associate director of the New York Baroque Dance Company and has performed with the troupe in palaces and concert halls throughout the United States and Europe, including the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. She is also a featured performer and choreographer for the Grammy Award-winning Boston Early Music Festival. She teaches ballet and dance history at Hofstra University.

Fittante, who specializes in ballet, Baroque, Balinese and Spanish escuela bolero dance, is the artistic director of BALAM Dance Theatre, a contemporary world dance company inspired by Balinese theatre. His choreography and performances have been presented throughout the U.S. and internationally at venues including Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He teaches ballet and world dance at Queens College in New York.

The event is sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures/French and Francophone Studies; the French Club; the departments of History and Music; the Center for Global and Area Studies’ European Studies program; Arts@UD; and the College of Arts and Sciences.