Contredanse
French line dance.
What it means
The contredanse is a social dance in which several couples dance in lines or groups opposite one another and execute fixed figures. It originally comes from England, where it was designated as country dance. In France it became contredanse, which was wrongly understood as “counter-dance” — a misunderstanding that, however, suited the dance form in which the couples stand opposite each other.
Characteristic are a duple metre, usually 2/4 or 6/8 time, a lively tempo, and clearly articulated sections whose length corresponds to the dance figures. The music is simply built and easy to grasp so that all participants can follow the figures.
From the contredanse several later dances developed, among them the anglaise, the ecossaise, and the quadrille, which consists of a sequence of contredanses.
In the notation
The contredanse is usually in 2/4 or 6/8 time, articulated into sections of eight bars that are repeated. The melody is plain and rhythmically clear.
Musical use
The contredanse was one of the most popular social dances in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It connected courtly and civic circles and was danced in large numbers at balls. Numerous composers wrote contredanses for convivial use, often in collections of short pieces. Its character as a dance in which many take part at the same time mirrored the changed society of the time.
The contredanse arose from the English country dance and became popular in France in the eighteenth century as the contredanse. The dancers stood opposite one another in lines, hence the name. Mozart and Beethoven wrote contredanses for balls in Vienna. From it the quadrille and the ecossaise emerged. Musically, contredanses are short, in duple time, and clearly articulated into eight-bar groups.
Performance practice
Keep the tempo lively and reliable, for the dancers must be able to follow their figures. Show the phrase structure distinctly. Play lightly and springy. And bear in mind the convivial function — the music is to invite dancing, not to impress.