A short history of social dance – 17th century

Are you looking for trustworthy information about dancing during the 17th century, but on the web you find everything and its opposite?

Are you overwhelmed with crumbs of scattered pieces of information, while you want a global overview?

Here, you’ll find a summary of the history of social dancing in the 17th century. I’m going to lay the foundations of what we know about these dances and point you in the direction of the key authors of each period.

This is the first article in a series devoted to the history of dance in general, period by period.

Please note three brief comments before getting to the heart of the matter:

• This article deals with social dancing, i.e. ballroom dancing practised by amateurs. There is no question here of talking about show dancing, Lully or Molière (though they are obviously some connection);
• This article focuses on Western Europe (France and Great Britain in particular). Its content may not apply to other countries;
• This is a general article: I have deliberately omitted some details in order to give a more general overview. A bibliography will then direct you to other reliable sources.

Now that you have been warned, let’s start!

Being a French native speaker, I write in English as good as I can. Please let me know if you sot any error. thank you!

Dancing at the French court

The history of dance in seventeenth-century France suffers from a documentary ‘gap’. Roughly speaking, we know of only two French dance treatises published between 1589 and 1700: the anonymous Instruction pour bien dancer (circa 1610) and François de Lauze’s l’Apologie de la danse (1623).

As a result, the researcher has to make assumptions based on the preceding and following periods.

We do know, however, that dance was one of the key elements in the education of the nobility. The Sun King, himself an experienced dancer, created the Royal Academy for Dance in 1662.

Dancing dancing during 17th century in France

We now know better how the balls were held. They were all inspired by the Grand Bal, the entertainment, or rather official ceremony of the French court.

The ball opened with a bransle. Unlike the previous century, the bransle of the 17th century was no longer danced in the round, but as a procession. The first couple was the royal couple, followed by the princes and courtiers. It was the king who decided the order of precedence.

The 17th-century bransle was a progressive dance. In the sense that the first couple comes last at some point in the dance. This progression is repeated until the original leading couple is back in first place.

Under Louis XIV, a suite of 6 bransles opened the ball. This was reduced to two in 1725. This dance therefore tended to disappear. The bransle remained popular in the provinces, however, and many regional variations have been recorded.

Then came the gavotte, still in procession, and following the same precedence order. The gavotte is also a progressive dance.

Finally came the danses à deux (couple dances). Mostly the courante (coranto) at the beginning of Louis XIV’s reign, then the menuet (or minuet) in the second part of 17th, and all the 18th centuries. Only one couple danced a the time, while others are watching.

Who dances with who?

First, the king dances with the queen (or the highest-ranking lady). Next, the king sits down and the queen dances with the highest-ranking courtier – following the order established for the previous dances. The courtier then invites the second lady in terms of precedence, and so on. So everyone dances twice, with two different partners.

The ballet de cour

Finally, there was the apogee of the « ballet de cour » (litterally ‘court ballet’). This spectacle combining dance, poetry and music featured the king, his courtiers and a few professional dancers in a series of entrées (tableaux).

This form of entertainment also existed in England under the name of ‘masque’.

At the time, there was no hard and fast dividing line between ballroom dancing and show / professional dancing. Exchanges and borrowings between the two disciplines were frequent, and it was sometimes difficult to distinguish a ballroom choreography for two dancers from an entry for two professional dancers. The way one dances at a ball (a single couple, under the gaze of the assembly, facing the Presence) is not really distinguishable from the way one dances on stage, facing the audience.

Dancing during 17th century England

By the end of the 16th century, a new style of dance had developed in England: country dancing. Country dancing is a type of dance in which the figure (the path performed by the dancers) is more important than the step.

Origins of the country dancing

There are two hypotheses about the origin of country dances.

The first is that country dances originated in Italy. In fact, some 16th-century Italian dances have few different steps, and figures similar to those of country dance (the set and turn, for example). This type of dance would have arrived in England via the nobility, before spreading to the countryside.

Another hypothesis links country dances to Old Measures. These solemn dances, performed at ceremonies and festivals, are attested between 1570 and around 1675. They are all processional dances for many as will. The vocabulary used to describe the Old Measures is identical to that used to describe country dances. Some step sequences can be found in both styles of dance.

The shapes of country dance during the 17th century

In the 17th century, country dance was very versatile. It required at least two couples. There were also dances for three or four couples. And even dances for many as will.

Country dances also come in a wide variety of forms: square dances for two or four couples, round dances, column dances and even dances in a line.

Over time, only the longways for many as will, a country dance in a column, survived. Longways was to be a runaway success in Europe in the eighteenth century.

The sources

If there was one author of country dance to be remembered in the 17th century, it would be John Playford. He was the first to publish descriptions of country dances, in The English Dancing Master.

This little book, printed in 1651, contains instructions for 105 dances. The work was expanded, enriched and corrected by John himself, his son Henry, and then his successor John Young. There were a total of 17 editions between 1651 and 1728. These books are invaluable for observing the evolution of choreographic styles.

What is less well known is that Playford is not the only source for English social dancing during 17th century. There are a dozen manuscripts containing descriptions. These include

• The so-called ‘Lovelace’ or ‘Pattricke’ manuscript (MS Eng 1356): 32 dances, described between 1621 and 1649;

• The Ward manuscript (GVI763.S73 1650): 17 dances, after 1660.

These other sources qualify and enrich the descriptions in The Dancing Master. You will find a practical example of the variations between these three sources in my article on A Health to Betty.

Crossing the Channel

There were many musical exchanges between France and England. Musicians and professional dancers were highly mobile, moving from one court to another and taking their customs with them.

The arrival of country dancing in France is well documented.

On Friday 27 October 1684, Isaac d’Orleans, an English dancing master, taught the Sun King some dances from his country. The king and his courtiers were enthusiastic about these dances, which were more convivial than the Belle danse.

André Lorin, a dance academician, travelled to England to collect other dances that might please Louis XIV. He published his Recueil de contredances presented to the King around 1685.

He invented a system of notation, which he used in his collection of contredanses in 1686. This invention inspired the Feuillet and Beauchamp notations of the following century (more on that later!).

Adapting the English dances to the French taste

When he returned from England, André Lorin lamented because the English didn’t bother much about steps. According to him, each Englishman steps as they want, without worrying about the their neighbour’s moves. So Lorin decided to impose steps:

André Lorin, Livre de la contredance du roy (…) retranscrit pour Louis XV, 1721, p.31.

.. and so begins the history of the contredanse ‘à la française’!

But this, dear readers, is the story of another day, another century. That was all for the history of social dancing during 17th century.

To learn further – selected bibliography

• Jean-Michel Guilcher, La contredanse. Un tournant dans l’histoire française de la danse, Editions Complexe et Centre National de la danse, Bruxelles, 2003. (several editions – initial publishin 1969).
• Transition from Renaissance Dance to Baroque, on www.loc.gov (contultation on Jan 15th 2021).
• Le ballet de cour, on www.cmbv.fr (consultation on Jan 15th 2021).
• Cécile Laye, Dancing in the Inns of Courts, on www.chestnut.fr (consultation on Jan 15th 2021).
• Mary Peralta Railing, Origins of English country dance, on www.colinhume.com (consultation on Jan 15th 2021).