An Essay on ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCE

Nicholas Hilliard - Elizabeth I Playing the Lute c. 1580

INTRODUCTION

Queen Elizabeth I reigned as the British monarch from 1558 to 1603. During her reign she was an enthusiastic patron of the arts, including theatre, music and dancing and it is her enthusiasm for dance that is under consideration in this essay.

The Early Dance Circle (EDC), a UK charity that aims to promote the enjoyment, performance and study of historical dance in the UK and beyond, states on its website that:

‘The country dance has been popularly regarded by some as Queen Elizabeth I’s legacy to the dance world’

This essay explores the reasonableness of this statement. Was the monarch actually responsible for bringing this type of dance to the attention of the dance world or were other factors also key to ensuring that this happened?

DEFINITIONS

Before discussing this question, we first need to be clear on what we are referring to. English Country Dance is a ‘genre of social dance for several couples, the characteristic form of folk and courtly dances of the British Isles.’ (Encyclopedia Britannica).

The social nature of these dances is evidenced in how they are performed. Sets of couples arrange themselves in particular configerations, commonly ‘longways’ (a double file line for an indefinite number of couples, with men on one side and women on the other), geometric, for two, three or four couples for upper classes (or ‘courtly dances’) or circular, again for as many couples as space might allow for lower classes (often outside).

Also, who are ‘the dance world’? In a literal definition, this could simply be in relation to most people i.e. English Country Dancing becomes available as an accessible form of dance to anyone. However, it is more likely a reference to trained composers and dance-masters of that era, who in turn then embrace it and create new songs and dances of this type i.e. it has gained formal professional recognition and, with that, longevity (as evidenced by its existence today).

BEFORE THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH I

Henry VIII. The other monarchs. Dances of the period.

EUROPEAN INFLUENCES

Troubadors

The Italian Renaissance. French dance.

EARLY YEARS OF THE REIGN (1558-1571)

QE1’s upbringing. Galliard, pavane

LATER YEARS OF THE REIGN (1572-1603)

Visits to the country, adopting of country dances at court

AFTER QE1’S REIGN

Playford

Regency period

(Source, emeraldvalleyregency.org)

Caricature of a "longways" country dance by Rowlandson, 2nd half of the 1790's.

CONCLUSION

This essay has looked at the reasonableness of the statement ‘The country dance has been popularly regarded by some as Queen Elizabeth I’s legacy to the dance world’, by exploring other key factors that may have influenced its popularity.

There is clear evidence that country dancing, in couples, was already taking place, usually quite energetically, among the lower classes (on the village green) in England well before Queen Elizabeth I’s reign. However, although there is some evidence that the Renaissance dances might have been influenced by more lively Italian country dancing, it does seem clear that the monarch’s decision to have country dances accepted at court was key to having English Country Dance accepted by the formal ‘dance world’.

Following this, country dance became widely accepted by both upper and lower classes, and the mixing of classes at social events became more common.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Encyclopedia Britannica (online) at http://www.britannica.com/art/country-dance

Sharp, C, 1924, The Dance: An Historical Survey of Dancing in Europe, London, Halton & Truscott Smith Ltd

Wood, M, 1937 (Dec), Some Notes on English Country Dancing before Playford, Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society 3 (2). 93-99.

Lincoln, K, 1969, Dance, New York, Dance Horizons

NOTES

1. Encyclopedia Britannica (www.britannica.com /art/countrydance )

Country dance

British dance

Written by: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica 0

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country dance, genre of social dance for several couples, the characteristic form of folk and courtly dances of the British Isles. In England after about 1550, the term country dancing referred to a dance of the upper classes; similar dances, usually called traditional, existed contemporaneously among country people and persisted in popular tradition.

Country dances are performed in three characteristic formations: (1) circular, for an indefinite number of couples (“round” dances), (2) “longways” set, double-file line for an indefinite number of couples, men on one side, women on the other, and (3) geometric formations (e.g., squares, triangles) or sets, usually for two, three, or four couples. The dancers execute a succession of varied patterns of figures. In “progressive-longways” dances, continuous interchange brings a new leading couple to the head of the set with each repetition of the pattern of figures. Round and longways dances predominate in the folk tradition. Longways and geometric sets are more frequent among courtly dances.

The patterns of the English country dances are similar to those of Irish set dances and of Scottish country dances such as reels and strathspeys. The step work of English dances, however, is simpler and the styling less formal.

Country dances from England were assimilated into the traditional dance of other countries—e.g., Portugal and Denmark. English colonists carried them to North America, where they began a new folk-dance tradition as the “contra,” or longways dance (e.g., the Virginia reel), and, in modified form, as the American square dance.

Courtly dances also were exported from England. Longways and geometric sets appeared in Italy by the 15th century. The 18th-century French contredanse was at first based on English country dances and later evolved into independent varieties; by the 19th century it had spread to Germany and back to England. Although country dance originated as folk dance, the historical sources for its figures and music are urban and courtly: Italian (15th–16th century), English (16th–19th century), and French (18th century). The chief English source is John Playford’s The English Dancing Master of 1650, continued in additional volumes until 1728 and critically revised in 1957 by M.J. Dean-Smith.

Cecil Sharp (1859–1924), founder of the English Folk Dance Society, made extensive collections of rural country dances at a time when they were in danger of dying out and was largely responsible for their 20th-century revival. The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society has published traditional dances dating back to the 17th century and modern dances in traditional style. Popular country dances include Nonesuch, Hunsdon House, Morpeth Rant, Corn Rigs, and Old Mole.

2. www.elizabethan-era.org.uk Elizabethan Dance

Elizabethan Music - Elizabethan Dance

Elizabethan Music complemented the different forms of Elizabethan Dance. Dancing was an extremely popular pastime during the Elizabethan era. Dancing in the Elizabethan era was considered "a wholesome recreation of the mind and also an exercise of the body". The emergence of different styles of music and new musical instruments combined with various experiments combining different instruments led to new dances being created. Elizabethan dance varied according to the social class.

Elizabethan Music

The court dances enjoyed by royalty, nobility and the Upper classes were often imported from Italy, Spain or France. These dance forms varied considerably from the energetic Galliard to the refined and stately Pavane. The lower classes enjoyed the more traditional country dances such as the Jig, Morris Dancing or the Brand or the Brawle which were closely associated with the customs and festivals celebrated in Elizabethan England.

Elizabethan Dance - Dances of the Upper Class

Elizabethan dances differed between the Upper and Lower Classes. The Upper Classes enjoyed new types of music at court. They had a taste for new music and new dances.

Many courtiers travelled abroad and returned to the Elizabethan court with dances from Italy, Spain and France. These foreign influences were found in the development of new Elizabethan court dances and music. These new dances had to be learnt and Dancing Masters were suitably employed. These Elizabethan dances were highly sophisticated and stately with intricate steps and nuances, although the old favorite English country dances were still popular. Many of the Court dances were performed as couples and the suggestive Elizabethan court dance called the Volt was the only dance which allowed the dancers to embrace closely. The form of entertainment called the Masque was popular with the Upper classes. Masques were accompanied with music and dance at the beginning and end of the performances and during the interludes. The dances which accompanied the masques had unusual names such as the 'Tinternell', 'Maske of Queens', 'The Earl of Essex's Measure', Lord Zouch's Maske and the 'Turkeylony' - many of these titles reflected the names of the patrons. The most important Elizabethan dances were the Pavan, Galliards and Almain.

Elizabethan Dance - The influence of Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth encouraged music and dancing amongst all of her subjects. She was a patron of all the Arts and encouraged the work of Elizabethan composers and musicians. She had been taught to play musical instruments as part of her education and was a skilled musician of the lute and the virginal. Her education also included learning to dance. Queen Elizabeth and her court used dance as a means of daily exercise. In the morning she would perform as many as seven Galliards, one of the most demanding and energetic of all the Elizabethan dances. She continued this strenuous form of dancing until her late fifties. She expected all her courtiers to be proficient in dancing. The handsome Christopher Hatton was well known as one of the most accomplished dancers who the Queen admired. Her admiration of Christopher Hatton led to jealous fits from Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester. Dudley was also a fine dancer and a wealthy patron of many Elizabethan composers and musicians. The court composers often named their works in honour of their patrons and the “Leicester Dance” was named accordingly.

List and description of Elizabethan Dances of the Upper Class

Many simple country dances were performed by the Elizabethan nobility and these are detailed in the appropriate section below. It was impossible for many of these dances to be performed by the Lower Classes as many of the instruments used were large, such as the keyboard instruments or not suitable for outdoor use. The following list details and the dances specifically performed by the Elizabethan Upper Classes:

The Pavane, Pavan - A stately court processional dance where Elizabethan couples paraded around the hall lightly touching fingers. Pavane means peacock and the name of the dance derives from the sight of the trains of the women's gowns trailing across the floor like a peacock's tail. It comprised of a pattern of five steps, hence its alternative name 'Cinque pas'

The Cinque Pas meaning five steps, an alternative name for the Pavane

The Galliard - A lively dance, originating from the fifteenth-century, which usually followed and complemented the Pavane

Sinkapace - Another name for a Pavane

The Almain - the Almain was one of the Elizabethan principal accompanied by keyboard instruments and lute music

The Volt, Volte, Lavolta - Elizabethan court dance was the only dance which allowed the dancers to embrace closely. In this suggestive dance the women were lifted high in the air by their male partner

The Gavotte - Described by the Dancing Master Arbeau in 1588 it became known as 'La Danse Classique'. Danced in couples in a circle to a medium tempo. Developed into Kissing dance which probably accounts for its popularity.

The Courant or Courante - Sophisticated, slow-moving dance which originated in France

The Saraband - Another sophisticated, slow-moving dance which originated in France

The Tourdion - Similar to the Galliard but a little more sedate

Ballet - A formal and courtly Italian dance form established at the French court in the sixteenth century, It was originally danced both by courtiers but now danced by professionals

Saltarella, Saltarello, Salterello - a fast dance of Italian origin similar to the Galliard

The Canary - a Spanish dance described as as 'gay but nevertheless strange and fantastic with a strong barbaric flavour'. Its popularity in France led to its importation into England

Elizabethan Dance - Dances for the Lower Class

The Elizabethan Lower Classes were not in the position to hear the new court music or learn the intricate steps of the Court dances. Their only contact with these innovations, and as with the latest fashions, would have been through the theatres. These English country dances were danced by couples in round, square, or rectangular sets in much simpler and repetitive forms and less intricate steps. The dances of the Elizabethan Lower Class would therefore be very different to those of the Elizabethan Upper Class. The dances would have been passed down through the generations and the different types of country dances were popular with everyone. The dances of the Lower Classes would have been performed at fairs and festivals, many of which were dictated by the changing seasons and the calendar of Church events. Many of the dances of the Elizabethan Lower classes were steeped in old customs and rituals, such as dancing around the Maypole. The Christmas festival included the carole which was the most popular dance-song which could be danced in a circle, or in a chain, or as a processional. Our modern Christmas Carols are derived from this practice.

List and description of Elizabethan Dances of the Lower Class

The following list details and the dances performed by the Elizabethan Lower Classes:

Brand, Brawle, Branle - the first dance often performed during celebratory gatherings and was also immensely popular as a concluding dance for masque revels. This circle dance featured sideways steps

The Jig or Gigge aka Port - the jig traditionally involved 'leaps'

The Hornpipe - a lively dance resembling a jig which eventually became associated with sailors. Often accompanied by a pipe with a reed mouthpiece

Roundel - Any dances which were performed in circle also called a ring-dance

Dump, Dumpe or Dompe - Dance accompanied by the lute

Buffoons - Comic characters who originally featured in ritual dancing such as Morris dances. The theme survived in the Buffoon country dance and also in court masques

Maypole Dance - Dated back to the English pagan era where the maypole represented a symbol of fertility. Dancers dance in a circle each holding a coloured ribbon attached to a central pole

Morris Dance - Often danced with handkerchiefs or sticks to embellish the hand movements

Elizabethan Country Dances

The names of different Elizabethan Country dances are both interesting and amusing. Their names reflect the types of dance and also common country activities. The following are a list of the names of different Elizabethan Country dances:

Black Nag

Gathering Peascods

Bransle Hay

Chirping of the Nightingale

Cuckolds All In A Row

The Fryar and the Nun

Hyde Park

Hole in the Wall

Jack a Lent

Jenny Pluck Pears

The Mayd peept out at the window

Merry Merry Milke Maids

Petticoat Wag

Punks Delight

Picking Up Sticks

The Bear Dance

Rufty Tufty

Saturday night and Sunday morn

Strip the Willow

Sellenger's Round

Washerwomen's Bransle

Trenchmore (The Hunting of the Fox)

Elizabethan Festivals when Dances were performed

The major events in the Elizabethan's lives, both the Upper and Classes, were dominated by Christian festivals. In the Dark Ages old pagan rituals were combined with the new Christian festivals in order to ensure their acceptance by the common people. The following list of Elizabethan festivals reflect some pagan rituals and beliefs, some of which, like the Maypole dance was Pagan in origin.

January - Twelfth Night festival and feasts featuring Elizabethan dance

February - St Valentine's Day the Elizabethan festival celebrating love with singing, dancing and pairing games

April - All Fool's Day. The Jesters, or Lords of Misrule of the Elizabethan court took charge for the day and their activities included different forms of dancing and odd suggestions for couples

May Day - The Elizabethan traditional festival where villagers danced around the maypole

June - Midsummer Eve and the summer Solstice of June 23rd was celebrated with bonfires and dance

July - Swithin's Day falls on 15th July

August - Lammas Day was on August 2nd celebrating the first wheat harvest of the year. Candle lit processions, dance and apple-bobbing was featured.

September - 29th September was when Michaelmas celebrations included dancing

October - October 25th celebrating St Crispin's Day with Revels, dancing and bonfires

November - The Day of the Dead, All Souls Day or All Hallow's Day ( Halloween ) was celebrated with revels, dance and bonfires

December - The feasts and Christmas celebrations including Elizabethan dancing

Interesting Facts and Information about Elizabethan Music and Elizabethan Dance

Some interesting facts and information about Elizabethan Music and Elizabethan Dance

Elizabethan Elizabethan Dance

Details, facts and information about the Elizabethan Dance and Elizabethan Music can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

Elizabethan Dance

Elizabethan Dance

Famous Elizabethan Dancing Masters

Elizabethan Dance - The influence of Queen Elizabeth

Elizabethan Dances for the Upper Class

Elizabethan Dances for the Lower Class

List and description of Elizabethan Dances of the Upper Class

List and description of Elizabethan Dances of the Lower Class

Elizabethan Country Dances

Elizabethan Festivals when Dances were performed

3. The Early Dance Circle

The first printed source for the Country Dance in Britain is the publication by John Playford in 1651 of The English Dancing Master, a collection of 104 dances, each presented with its own music. This volume of tunes and dance instructions was the first of eighteen editions that appeared over the next seventy-seven years. Many of the dances in that first edition probably derive from earlier times, but, despite literary references to the titles of certain of the dances, there are no specific choreographies prior to this publication. (The second and subsequent editions dropped the word English from the title, becoming simply The Dancing Master.)

Norwich Historical Dance

Today, English Country Dance continues to thrive under the aegis of the English  Folk Dance and Song Society, thanks to Cecil Sharp, and occupies an important  part of the international dance world. Its earlier forms are now increasingly being  reconstructed from an historical point of view. (See the bibliography below.)

Scottish Country Dance grew from the tradition of Playford, later influenced by  French contredanse. In more recent times, it owes its revival to Dr Jean Milligan and Mrs Ysobel Stewart, joint founder members of what became the Royal Scottish  Country Dance Society.

Historical development

The country dance has been popularly regarded by some as Queen Elizabeth I’s legacy to the dance world. A keen dancer herself, she encouraged these dances at her court. However, they were not some form of folk dance, but an important pastime for the more educated and wealthy classes of the Renaissance. They came to be seen as specifically English.

The seventeenth century saw the greatest flowering of the country dance which, contrary to common belief, was not suppressed by Cromwell’s puritan regime. Indeed, dancing continued to be enjoyed in the privacy of the long galleries of country houses, spaces that were ideally suited to the evolving longways formation of the country dance, ‘for as many as will’. The first edition of The English Dancing Master was published a mere two years after Charles I’s execution in 1649.

First Edition, Playford

On 31 December 1662, Samuel Pepys recorded a diary entry describing a visit to Whitehall, where he saw a formal ball in progress: ‘Then to Country dances; the King leading the first which he called for; which was – says he, Cuckolds all a-row the old dance of England.’

‘Cuckolds all a row’ in the first edition of The English Dancing Master (1651)

Many eighteenth-century dancing masters and music publishers followed Playford’s lead, composing new dances and publishing in increasing profusion, with names like Bray, Kynaston, Walsh, Rutherford and Thompson dominating the scene.

Kellom Tomlinson in The Art of Dancing (1735) said of country dance that it is ‘become as it were the Darling or favourite Diversion of all Ranks of People from the Court to the Cottage in their different Manners of Dancing.’

Throughout the eighteenth century in England, the formal minuet always opened the proceedings at Assemblies, after which country dances were enjoyed. Comparing country dance to the intricacies of ballet steps, a writer, identified only as ‘A Lady of Quality’, in A Mirror of the Graces (1811) made the following observation, ‘Their character is that of gay simplicity. The steps should be few and easy, and the corresponding motions of the arms and body unaffected, modest and graceful.’ In other words, such dancing should be relaxed and enjoyable. Of course, many of the dance patterns are nevertheless satisfyingly complex.

Thomas Wilson was the last (and most prolific) of the publishers of country dances. His final publication appeared in 1821, when country dancing was being gradually superseded by the increasingly popular quadrilles and couple dances.

Primary Sources

T. Bray, Country Dances (London, 1699).

N. Dukes, A Concise & Easy Method of Learning the figuring parts of country dances (London, 1752).

R. A. Feuillet, Recüeil de contredanses (Paris, 1706).

N. Kynaston, Twenty-eight new country dances for the year 1710 (London, 1709).

J. Playford, The English Dancing Master ( London, 1651); various editions up to c.1728; facsimile of 1st ed.(London, 1957); reprints ed. H. Mellor & L. Bridgewater, with tunes in modern notation (London, 1933, & New York, 1975); D. Wilson ed., Historical Playford, Cambridge, 2001).

J. Walsh & P. Randall, The Compleat Country Dancing Master (London, 1718).

The collections of Playford, Bray, Kynaston, Walsh, Thompson, Rutherford and Wilson are mostly rare books not generally available outside specialist libraries. The principal library for studying English Country Dance is the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, London, NW1 7AY.

Performing versions of a number of dances are given in the following:–

N. Broadbridge & M. Fennessy, Purcell’s Dancing Master (Lanark, 1997) [with CD].

N. Broadbridge, A Neal Ball: 20 Dances from J  & W Neal’s Choice Collection 1726 (Lanark, 2012) [with CD].

D. Cruickshank, The Lovers Luck: twenty country dances … by Thomas Bray 1699 (Salisbury, 2001) [with CDs].

P. Dixon, Dances from the Courts of Europe, vols. IV, V, VII-IX (Nonsuch/Eglinton Productions) [with cassettes].

C. Helwig & M. Barron, Thomas Bray’s Country Dances (New Haven, 1988) [with cassette].

K. Van Winkle Keller & G. Shimer, The Playford Ball (London, 1990).

A. Shaw, Mr Kynaston’s Famous Dance (Altrincham, 2000) [with CD/cassette].

P. Shaw, Holland as seen in the English Country Dance (Netherlands, 1960)

Regency Dancing 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6thMntv2d4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwiaxJMdPBM

Country dancinghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpNDS6IASVU

Country danceFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from English Country Dance)Jump to: navigation, searchFor other uses, see Country Dance (disambiguation).

A comical 18th-century country dance - engraving by HogarthA country dance is any of a large number of social dances of the British Isles in which couples dance together in a figure or "set", each dancer dancing to his or her partner and each couple dancing to the other couples in the set.[1] A set consists most commonly of two or three couples, sometimes four and rarely five or six. Often dancers follow a "caller" who names each change in the figures.Introduced to France and then Germany and Italy in the course of the 17th century, country dances gave rise to the contradanse, one of the significant dance forms in classical music. Introduced to America by French immigrants, it remains popular in the United States of America as contra dance and had great influence upon Latin American music as contradanza. The Anglais (from the French word meaning "English") or Angloise is another term for the English country dance.[2][3] A Scottish country dance may be termed an Ecossaise. Irish set dance is also related.

Contents [hide] 1 Characteristics2 History3 Influence4 Revival5 See also6 References7 External links

7.1 History7.2 Interpretation7.3 Dance associations7.4 General

Characteristics[edit]

Main article: Country dance terminologyThe term "country dance" may refer to any of a large number of figure-dances that originated on village greens.[4] The term applies to dances in line formation, circle dances, square dances and even triangular sets for three couples.However the most common formation is the "longways" set in which men and women form two lines facing each other. The "Roger de Coverley", which was for some time the only well-known country dance in England, and "The Grand Old Duke of York" are among the most familiar examples of this kind of dance. Couples form two lines along which each travels at the end of each iteration of figures, meeting new couples and repeating the series of figures many times. Alternatively, dances can be finite, a set forming an independent unit within which the series of figures is repeated a limited number of times. These dances are often non-progressive, each couple retaining their original positions.Country dancing is intended for general participation, unlike folk dances such as clogging, which are primarily concert dances, and ballroom dances in which dancers dance with their partners independently of others. Bright, rhythmic and simple, country dances had appeal as a refreshing finale to an evening of stately dances such as the minuet.[4]

History[edit]

A village country dance - engraving by Abraham Bosse, 1633.Country dances began to influence courtly dance in the 15th century[5] and became particularly popular at the court of Elizabeth I of England. Many references to country dancing and titles shared with known 17th-century dances appear from this time, though few of these can be shown to refer to English country dance. While some early features resemble the morris dance and other early styles, the influence of the courtly dances of Continental Europe, especially those of Renaissance Italy, may also be seen, and it is probable that English country dance was affected by these at an early date.[6] Little is known of these dances before the mid-17th century.[7]

John Playford's The English Dancing Master (1651) listed over a hundred tunes, each with its step. This was enormously popular, reprinted constantly for 80 years and much enlarged. Playford and his successors had a practical monopoly on the publication of dance manuals until 1711, and ceased publishing around 1728. During this period English country dances took a variety of forms including finite sets for two, three and four couples as well as circles and squares.

Lorin's contradanse choreography, one of the earliest western dance notationsThe country dance was introduced to the court of Louis XIV of France, where it became known as contredanse, and later to Germany and Italy. André Lorin, who visited the English court in the late 17th century, presented a manuscript of dances in the English manner to Louis XIV on his return to France. In 1706 Raoul Auger Feuillet published his Recüeil de Contredances, a collection of "contredanses anglaises" presented in a simplified form of Beauchamp-Feuillet notation and including some dances invented by the author as well as authentic English dances. This was subsequently translated into English by John Essex and published in England as For the Further Improvement of Dancing.[8]

By the 1720s the term contradanse had come to refer to longways sets for three and two couples, which would remain normative until English country dance's eclipse.[9] The earliest French works refer only to the longways form as contradanse,[10] which allowed the false etymology of "a dance in which lines dance opposite one another".[4] The square-set type also had its vogue in France during the later 18th century as the quadrille[11] and the cotillion. These usually require a group of eight people, a couple along each side. "Les Lanciers", a descendant of the quadrille, and the "Eightsome Reel" are examples of this kind of dance. Dancing in square sets still survives in Ireland, under the name "set dancing" or "figure dancing".For some time British publishers issued annual collections of these dances in popular pocket-books. Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy all loved country dancing and put detailed descriptions into their novels. But the vogue for the waltz and the quadrille ousted the country dance from English ballrooms in the early 19th century, though Scottish country dance remained popular.[4][9]

Influence[edit]

The "La Trénis" figure of the Contredanse, an illustration from Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1805The French contredanse, arriving independently in the American colonies, became the New England contra dance, which experienced a resurgence in the mid-20th century. The quadrille evolved into square dance in the United States while in Ireland it contributed to the development of modern Irish set dance. English country dance in Scotland developed its own flavour and became the separate Scottish country dance. English Ceilidh is a special case, being a convergence of English, Irish and Scottish forms. In addition certain English country dances survived independently in the popular repertoire. One such is the Virginia Reel, which is almost exactly the same as the 'Sir Roger de Coverley'.The contradanza, the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. The contradanza was popular in Spain and spread throughout Spanish America during the 18th century, where it took on folkloric forms that still exist in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. In Cuba during the 19th century it became an important genre, the ancestor of danzon, mambo and cha cha cha. Haitians fleeing the Haitian Revolution of 1791 brought to the Cuban version a Creole influence and a new syncopation.[12][13]

The Engelska (Swedish for "English") or Danish Engelsk is a 16-bar Scandinavian folk dance in 2/4.[14] Its name comes from the adoption in Scandinavia of English English country dances and contra dances in the early 19th century. In Denmark the description "Engelsk" was used for both line and square dances of English origin.[15]

Revival[edit]

Country dance, Queensland, about 1910Only due to the efforts of Cecil Sharp, Mary Neal and the English Folk Dance and Song Society in the late 19th and early 20th century did a revival take place, so that for some time schoolchildren were taught country dances. In the early 20th century, traditional and historical dances began to be revived in England. Neal, one of the first to do so, was principally known for her work in ritual dances, but Cecil Sharp, in the six volumes of his Country Dance Book, published between 1909 and 1922, attempted to reconstruct English country dance as it was performed at the time of Playford, using the surviving traditional English village dances as a guide, as the manuals defined almost none of the figures described. Sharp and his students were, however, almost wholly concerned with English country dances as found in the early dance manuals:[16] Sharp published 160 dances from the Playford manuals and 16 traditional village country dances. Sharp believed that the Playford dances, especially those with irregular forms, represented the original "folk" form of English country dance and that all later changes in the dance's long history were corruptions.[17] This view is no longer held.The first collection of modern English country dances since the 1820s, Maggot Pie, was published in 1932, though only in the late 20th century did modern compositions become fully accepted.[18] Reconstructions of historical dances and new compositions continue. Interpreters and composers of the 20th century include Douglas and Helen Kennedy, Pat Shaw, Tom Cook, Ken Sheffield, Charles Bolton, Michael Barraclough, Colin Hume, Gary Roodman, and Andrew Shaw.See also[edit]

dance portal

• Country and Western dance • Baroque dance • Social dance • English Ceilidh • Choreography and figures in contra dances • Folk dance • Quadrille • Square dance • Maypole

• Stave dancing • Angloise (L. Mozart)

References[edit]1 Jump up ^ Wilson, Thomas (1808). An Analysis of Country Dancing. London: W.

Calvert.2 Jump up ^ Aldrich, Elizabeth (1998). "Transition From Renaissance Dance To Baroque

Dance". Western Social Dance: An Overview of the Collection. The Library of Congress / American Memory. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-18.

3 Jump up ^ "Music Dictionary : An - An" . Music Dictionary Online. Dolmetsch Online. Retrieved 2007-12-18.

4 ^ Jump up to: a b c d Percy A. Scholes, The Oxford Companion to Music, O.U.P. 1970, article Country dance.

5 Jump up ^ Lincoln Kirstein, Dance, Dance Horizons Incorporated, New York, 1969, p. 119

6 Jump up ^ Wood, Melusine (December 1937). "Some Notes on the English Country Dance before Playford". Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society 3 (2): 93–99.

7 Jump up ^ Cunningham, J. P. (December 1962). "The Country Dance: Early References". Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society 9 (3): 148–154.

8 Jump up ^ Copies of these books may be found online:Recüeil de Contredances (1706) by Raoul Auger Feuillet, and For the further Improvement of Dancing (1710) by John Essex

9 ^ Jump up to: a b Thurston, Hugh (December 1952). "The Development of the Country Dance as Revealed in Printed Sources". Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society 7 (1): 29–35.

10 Jump up ^ Sharp, Cecil (1924). The Dance: An Historical Survey of Dancing in Europe.11 Jump up ^ Lincoln Kirstein, Dance, Dance Horizons Incorporated, New York, 1969, p.

21212 Jump up ^ "History of Cuban Music". Retrieved 19 January 2014.13 Jump up ^ The History of Latin American Dance by Jessica Martinez14 Jump up ^ "Enkel Engelska © 1997 by SMF". Folkdancing.com. Retrieved 2013-12-

09.15 Jump up ^ "Dansk Spillemansmuik (1660-1999)" (PDF) (in Danish). Nodenek.dk.

Retrieved 2013-12-09.16 Jump up ^ Walkowitz, Daniel J. (2010). City Folk: English Country Dance and the

Politics of Folk in Modern America. New York University Press.17 Jump up ^ Sharp, Cecil J. (1911). The Country Dance Book, Part II. Novello and

Company, Ltd.Jump up ^ "Maggot Pie". Retrieved 18 November 2012. http://www-

ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/~winston/ecd/origins_and_evolution.htmlx

ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCING - ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION

[This introduction and description was posted to the ECD list by Gene Murrow in January, 2006. The rest of the text is in Gene's voice. -- Alan Winston]

Denizens of the ECD list would perhaps find my summary (appended below) of ECD's origins and development useful. I would certainly be interested in reactions, suggestions, and corrections. It was written as "notes" for programs I presented with two highly regarded professional early music ensembles in America: the Baltimore Consort and the Newberry Consort. The audiences were "general" in that they were unfamiliar with ECD. Many, however, were academics and familiar with music, art, and cultural history. So I had to be engaging and enthusiastic, but careful.

The notes are the result of my longtime interest in ECD's origins. At the 1996 Amherst Assembly week-long workshop on the history and evolution of the genre, we reviewed much of the source and secondary material noted by Allison. Points made in this recent thread by Steve, Tom, Michael, Alan and others were debated at length. Among the presenters were professional dance historians like Kate (Kitty) van Winkle Keller, Dorothy Olsson, and Julia Sutton, as well as informed laypeople Chip Hendricksen, Christine Helwig, Helene Cornelius, Jacqueline Schwab, and others who had been doing important research.

Certainly not the final word, but I hope accurate and useful...

INTRODUCTION TO THE COUNTRY DANCE by Gene Murrow

The "English country dance" emerged as a distinct genre during the reign of Elizabeth I in the 16th century. While evidence provides no definitive answer as to its origins, it appears to have been an amalgamation of the Continental courtly dances brought to the Elizabethan court by Italian and other dancing masters known to have been present, and the vernacular dances done by the English country "folk." In her periodic "progresses" by which she traveled throughout her realm, Elizabeth had opportunity to observe these indigenous folk dances, and manuscripts of the time document her pleasure at seeing them:

"Her Majesty that Saturday night was lodgid again in the Castell of Warwick, where she rested all Sonday, where it pleased her to have the country people, resorting to see her, daunce in the court of the Castell, her Majestie beholding them out of the chamber window, which thing, as it pleased well the country people, so it seemed her Majesty was much delighted, and made very myrry." [from Nichol's Progresses, ed. 1823, I, 319].

As dancing was held in high esteem at court, it seems likely that dancing masters would attempt to create new dances that would garner approval from the monarch and her courtiers. Interest in the new form of country dancing spread from the

royal court to other artistocratic and cultured venues, including grand country houses and the Inns of Court in London, wherein young law students were housed and schooled. In 1651, the noted London publisher John Playford produced the first printed collection of country dances for sale, titled "The English Dancing Master," which contained the music and instructions for 105 dances [the first dance in the collection, "Upon a Summers Day" is on today's program]. It sold well, and a second edition was produced the following year. In all, Playford and later his son Henry Playford and others, produced 18 editions until 1728, adding or deleting dances as fads and fashions changed.

Country dancing gained popularity throughout England, as well as Scotland, Ireland, Europe, and the American colonies. Public "assemblies" introduced in the 18th century, held in publicly accessible ballrooms such as the Assembly Rooms at Bath, made country dancing available to the new, rising middle classes as well as the aristocracy. Publishers and choreographers competed with annual collections of new dances to feed the growing appetite, and dancing masters built careers teaching style and repertoire.

Interest in the English country dance peaked in the late 18th century (as described, for example, in Jane Austen's novels and letters), and then quickly faded as social dancing in society was revolutionized by the introduction of the waltz, polka, and other couple dances in the early 19th century.

Dormant for 100 years, interest in the English country dance was re-awakened during a period of cultural nationalism that surfaced in England and other European countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cecil Sharp, an English musicologist and teacher, is credited as the primary re-discoverer of the country dance, both in its surviving vernacular form in the small villages of the English countryside, and in the 17th-century printed collections of Playford and others intended for the cultured classes. Sharp re-interpreted country dances for contemporary audiences, and tirelessly promoted the genre as suitable for schools and youth groups as well as adults who he felt should have their great traditional dancing "returned" to them.

Interest in these dances continued to grow in the 20th century. In the last 30 years, hundreds of new dances and tunes in English country dance style have been composed by English, American, and European composers in a burst of creativity surpassing even that of the 18th century. The majority of dances on today's program are from the 17th century, with a sampling of those composed by later dancing masters and those living today.

John Gardiner-garden Vol II & Vol III

IntroductionHistoric Dance I: 1450-1550

Like all 10 volumes in this series this is an A4 book by Dr John Gardiner-Garden with nearly 740 pages of research, discussion and analysis, with hundreds of illustrations, musical scores, dance reconstructions, source extracts, transcriptions and translations, and with each volume divided into five parts.

Part 1 (Dance context) explores the social, political and geographic contexts in which dance and the institution of the ball was evolving.

The official website of the British Monarchy

http://www.royal.gov.uk/historyofthemonarchy/kingsandqueensofengland/thetudors/elizabethi.aspx

Elizabeth I (r.1558-1603)

Elizabeth I - the last Tudor monarch - was born at Greenwich on 7 September 1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. 

The arts flourished during Elizabeth's reign. Country houses such as Longleat and Hardwick Hall were built, miniature painting reached its high point, theatres thrived - the Queen attended the first

performance of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Composers such as William Byrd and Thomas Tallis worked in Elizabeth's court and at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace.