Cotillion
A sociable French round dance with changing figures, often danced to close a ball.
What it means
The cotillion is a sociable French dance with changing, often playful figures, danced by a larger group of couples. A lead couple demonstrates each figure, which the other couples then copy.
Musical use
The cotillion was popular across 18th- and especially 19th-century Europe as a lively, sociable way to close a ball, usually danced in triple metre to waltz or march music, and accompanied by small props such as ribbons, flowers or favors that the dancers played with. Musically the cotillion often borrowed already familiar tunes and dances as its basis, making it less an independent musical form than a social dance practice with a characteristic choreography. A related but distinct dance is the quadrille, another French social dance with fixed sequences of figures.
Performance practice
When accompanying or dancing a cotillion, follow the lead couple — the music here mainly serves as a rhythmic frame for changing, often improvised figures rather than a fixed choreographic script.