Square Dance History Project
The rich story of North American square dance finally has a home in the digital age.

Browse Items (15 total)

  • Subject is exactly "Contredanse française"
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3 Contredanses françaises

These three dances date to the late 18th century. They are reconstructed from the Manuscrit de Trois-Rivières, the earliest dance manuscript in Canada; click here for more information about the… View item
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Contredanse française - pot-pourri of dances

This selection of dances from the period of the French Revolution begins with an introduction (in French). The actual dancing begins about 2:20. View item
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Contredanse française – La réverbère

Dance from the later 1700s, during the reign of Louis VXI (1754-1793), illustrating this dance form that emerged from the cotillon and led to the development of the quadrille. View item
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Cotillon / Cotillion / Contredanse Française

referring to a dance in our collection:The dance is a contredanse from de la Cuisse, published in 1762. It was not called a cotillion in France. Once de la Cuisse had published his collection, the… View item
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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… View item
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History of Square Dancing - Ralph Page

Between 1972 and 1974, Ralph Page wrote a series of essays entitled A History of Square Dancing. For ease in downloading, we have collected them into "chapters" that group together similar topics.… View item
Website

Kitty Keller - Social Dance History

This is a series of six edited videos, selections from a 90-minute interview with social dance historian Kate Van Winkle Keller. She is a specialist in dances of the 18th century, and here she trace… View item
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La boulangère - dance of French Revolution

Dance from the period of the French Revolution. La Boulangère was the only dance mentioned by name by Jane Austen, and it is related to an American dance figure of the south called the Shoo-Fly Swing. View item
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La naissance du cotillon et du quadrille, contredanses françaises

Article (in French) by Simonne Voyer, who is the author of La danse traditionnelle dans l'est du Canada: quadrilles et cotillons. For a translation in English by Susan Kevra, click here. View item
Website

Late Eighteenth-Century Social Dance (article)

Article that provides a summary of 18th century dance, including the contredanse française, a dance for four couples in a square. Also offers links to documents in the Library of Congress… View item
Website

Nineteenth Century Social Dance (article)

Library of Congress overview of dance history, including links to specific books in their collection. View item