The renaissance festivity, organized to celebrate the most important events of the life of a Prince, was the ideal situation in which the art of dance could be born and could develop. Italy, seat of important courts during the XV and XVI centuries, was the vital fulcrum of artistically conceived festive events. Dance became a prominent part of these festive proceedings; the dancing-master created and codified the movements, developed the choreographies and was active from the XV century in the Italian courts as educator and inventor of festivities and banquets. Cesare Negri, nicknamed ®il Trombone¯, Professor of dance, was one of the most important dancing-masters in XVI century in Italy. He was born in Milan, probably in 1536 and died after 1604. Little is known of his life, and the few facts are gathered from his treatise: he studied dance at the school of Pompeo Diobono in Milan and here he began his teaching career when his master left for France in 1554 in the suite of Monsignor di Brisacco, viceroy of Piemonte. From that year onwards Cesare Negri became the dancing-master of the Milanese noblemen of the time. His was a very brilliant career and like other masters of his time he assembled the results of his work in a theoretic and practical treatise, the first edition of which was published in Milan in 1602 with the title ®Le Gratie d’Amore¯.