The pavane[a] (/pəˈvɑːn, pəˈvæn/ pə-VA(H)N; Italian: pavana, padovana; German: Paduana) is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century (Renaissance).
The pavane, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci, in Joan Ambrosio Dalza's Intabolatura de lauto libro quarto in 1508, is a sedate and dignified couple dance, similar to the 15th-century basse danse.
[1] The decorous sweep of the pavane suited the new more sober Spanish-influenced courtly manners of 16th-century Italy.
[1] As a musical form, the pavane survived long after the dance itself was abandoned, and well into the Baroque period, when it finally gave way to the allemande/courante sequence.[8].
Next, a lone gentleman advanced and went en se pavanant (strutting like a peacock) to salute the lady opposite him.