Emergence and Development of the Cotillon
Jean-Michel Guilcher is a pre-eminent scholar of French dance. This is an excerpt from his book, La contredanse: un tournant dans l'histoire française de la danse, translated for the Square Dance History Project by Susan Kevra, a dance caller and professor of French.
Some have argued that the four-couple cotillon that emerged in France in the early 18th century was a modification of English country dances for four couples. Guilcher looks carefully at the evidence and concludes that the cotillon was a French invention based on earlier French branles. To be sure, the English country dances had crossed the English Channel to France, and people enjoyed dancing both the English longways dances and other longways dances created by French dancing masters. But there is no evidence linking early English dances for four couples directly with the French form that emerged.
Subjects: Cotillon / cotillion, Contredanse française
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| This Item | is related to | Item: The Birth of the Cotillion and the Quadrille, French Contredanses |
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Some have argued that the four-couple cotillon that emerged in France in the early 18th century was a modification of English country dances for four couples. Guilcher looks carefully at the evidence and concludes that the cotillon was a French invention based on earlier French branles. To be sure, the English country dances had crossed the English Channel to France, and people enjoyed dancing both the English longways dances and other longways dances created by French dancing masters. But there is no evidence linking early English dances for four couples directly with the French form that emerged.