The minuet step is the

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 ...

step performed in the dance

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that accompa ...

. It "is composed of four plain straight Steps or Walks, and may be performed forwards, backward, sideways, &c." or in a square. The steps are often referred to by direction to distinguish them. "A Movement, or Sink and Rise, being added to the first Step of the three belonging to the Minuet Step, produces a Bouree; and the like to the fourth and last a Half Coupee, which together compose what is commonly called the English Minuet Step" . "The second Method of its Performance is with a Bound; that is to say, instead of the Half Coupee or Movement to the last Step made upon the Floor, as in the aforesaid, you bound instead thereof, which is the only Variation from the foregoing" . "The third Method is quite the Reverse, because, instead of the Bouree, the Half Coupee is made first and afterwards the Bouree, or as the French term it, One and a Fleuret, which is usually called the French Step" . "The fourth Way of performing this Step is, by adding another Movement to the third Step of the aforesaid Fleuret, or the fourth of the Minuet Step; and it will then be notwithstanding the same Step, only of three Movements. As to the two first foregoing Steps, I shall say little concerning them, for the following Reasons: In the first Place, because they are now rarely, if ever, practised amongst Persons of the first Rank, and seem to be, for the present, intirely laid aside; not as being ungraceful, or that the Dancer could not give Pleasure to the Beholders, or raise to himself a Reputation, in their Performance, but merely through Alteration of Fashion, which varies in this Respect, as in Dressing, &c." . Variation and ornamentation of the basic steps was applied in three ways: (1) ''ad libitum'' variation on the frequency and order of the basic figures, (2) ''ad libitum'' variation of the step-pattern and ornamental foot and hand movements, and (3) special variant choreographies (''menuets figurees'') created by dancing masters for special occasions, for particular pupils, or for published manuals (these often required specially composed music to fit the choreographies) .

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*The article is based on th
Minuet Step
from ''

An American Ballroom Companion An American Ballroom Companion is an online collection of over two hundred social dance manuals at the Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''d ...

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of minuet step. Social dance steps Baroque dance

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