Java is a

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

which was developed in France in the early part of the 20th century. The origin of its name is uncertain, but it probably evolved from the

valse The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wal ...

. Mainly performed in French

bal-musette Bal-musette is a style of French instrumental music and dance that first became popular in Paris in the 1880s. Although it began with bagpipes as the main instrument, this instrument was replaced with accordion, on which a variety of waltzes, polkas ...

between 1910 and 1960, the dance was largely conceived due to popular demand for a new type of waltz. In particular, one which was easier, faster, more sensual, and would not require a dance hall as large as those typically used for waltzes. Java takes the form of a fast waltz, with the dancers dancing very close to one another, taking small steps to advance. Men will often place both their hands on their partner's buttocks while dancing. Naturally, this led some of the more respectable bal-musette dance halls banning java.

Titles

* Georgius - ''La plus bath des javas'', 1925 *

Alibert Alibert is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Éric Alibert (born 1958), French painter * Gaston Alibert (1878–1917), French fencer * Jean-Claude Alibert (died 2020), French racing driver *Jean-Louis-Marc Alibert (1768� ...

and Gaby Sims - ''Un petit cabanon'', 1935 *

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and vari ...

- ''La java de cézigue'', 1936 * Georgette Plana - ''La Java bleue'', 1938 * Darcelys - ''Une partie de pétanque'', 1941 *

- ''

L'Accordéoniste "L'Accordéoniste" is a song made famous by Édith Piaf. It was written in 1940 by Michel Emer, who then offered it to her. Commercial performance "L'Accordéoniste" became the first million-seller in Piaf's career. Composition The song te ...

'', 1942 *

Boris Vian Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sulliva ...

- ''La Java des bombes atomiques'', 1955 *

Léo Ferré Léo Ferré (24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a French-born Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer, whose career in France dominated the years after the Second World War until his death. He released s ...

- ''Java partout'', 1957 *

Claude Nougaro Claude Nougaro (, oc, Claudi Nogaròu; 9 September 1929 – 4 March 2004) was a French songwriter and singer. Life and career Claude Nougaro was born in Toulouse to a respected French opera singer, Pierre Nougaro, and a piano teacher, Liette ...

- ''Le Jazz et la Java'', 1962 *

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoca ...

- ''

La Javanaise "La Javanaise" is a song written and composed by Serge Gainsbourg originally for Juliette Gréco, and interpreted by both her and Serge Gainsbourg in 1963. The first recordings of both artists constituted the B-sides of each of the two 45s. Rec ...

'', 1963 *

Michel Sardou Michel Charles Sardou (; born 26 January 1947) is a French singer and occasional actor. He is known not only for his love songs ("La maladie d'amour", "Je vais t'aimer"), but also for songs dealing with various social and political issues, su ...

- ''La Java de Broadway'', 1977 * TC Matic - ''Le Java'', 1982

On film

A java is danced during a key scene at a working class café in

Jean Vigo Jean Vigo (; 26 April 1905 – 5 October 1934) was a French film director who helped establish poetic realism in film in the 1930s. His work influenced French New Wave cinema of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Biography Vigo was born to Emil ...

's film ''

L'Atalante ''L'Atalante'', also released as ''Le Chaland qui passe'' ("The Passing Barge"), is a 1934 French film written and directed by Jean Vigo, and starring Jean Dasté, Dita Parlo and Michel Simon. After the difficult release of his controversial sh ...

'' (1934). Composer

Maurice Jaubert Maurice Jaubert (3 January 1900 – 19 June 1940) was a French composer.player piano A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ...

; it recurs later in the soundtrack as a refrain for

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

Bibliography

* Henri Joannis Deberne, ''Danser en société'', Christine Bonneton editor, 3/1999, Paris p. 144-145 French dances French music {{France-stub