A country dance is any of a very large number of
social dance
Social dances are dances that have social functions and context. Social dances are intended for participation rather than Concert dance, performance. They are often danced merely to socialise and for entertainment, though they may have Ceremoni ...
s of a type that originated in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
in the British Isles; it is the repeated execution of a predefined sequence of figures, carefully designed to fit a fixed length of music, performed by a group of people, usually in couples, in one or more sets. The figures involve interaction with your partner and/or with other dancers, usually with a progression so that you dance with everyone in your set. It is common in modern times to have a "caller" who teaches the dance and then calls the figures as you dance. Country dances are done in many different styles.
As a
musical form
In music, ''form'' refers to the structure of a musical composition or musical improvisation, performance. In his book, ''Worlds of Music'', Jeff Todd Titon suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a ...
written in or time, the contredanse was used by Beethoven and Mozart.
Beethoven's 6 Ecosaises WoO83 are dated to 1806.
Mozart's 6 Ländlerische Tänze, K.606 are dated to 1791.
Introduced to South America by French immigrants, Country Dance had great influence upon Latin American music as
contradanza
''Contradanza'' (also called ''contradanza criolla'', ''danza'', ''danza criolla'', or ''habanera'') is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th cen ...
.
The ''Anglais'' (from the
French word meaning 'English') or ''Angloise'' is another term for the English country dance. A
Scottish country dance may be termed an .
Irish set dance is also related.
Characteristics
A ''set'' is a formation of dancers. The most common formations are ''longways for as many as will'', i.e. couples in long lines, and ''squares'', consisting of four couples. The longways formation occurs in more than 12,000 modern
contra dances; it was also the most popular formation in all the dance publications of the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 2003, Burleson's Square Dancer's Encyclopedia listed 5125 calls or figures. Circles and fixed-length longways sets are also very common, but the possible formations are limited only by the imagination of the choreographer.
Thomas Wilson, in 1808, wrote, "A Country Dance is composed of an indefinite number of persons, not less than six, but as many more as chuse, but six are sufficient to perform any figure in the treatise." Wilson was writing about his own period. In fact, there are numerous dances for two couples, and quite a few for three or five dancers.
A ''figure'' is a pattern that the dancers trace along the floor, simple ones such as Circle Left are intuitive and can be danced with no prior knowledge, while complex moves such as
Strip the willow need to be taught. The stepping and style of dancing varies by region and by period.
Wilson in 1820 wrote, "Country Dance Figures are certain Movements or Directions formed in Circular, Half Circular, Serpentine, Angular, Straight Lines, etc. etc. drawn out into different Lengths, adapted to the various ''Strains'' of Country Dance Music." . Again, the possible figures are limited only by the imagination of the choreographer. Examples of some of the figures are provided in the
Glossary of country dance terms.
The music most commonly associated with country dancing is folk/country/traditional/historical music, however, modern bands are experimenting with countless other genres.
While some dances may have originated on
village green
A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...
s,
[ Percy A. Scholes, '' The Oxford Companion to Music'', Oxford University Press 1970, article "Country dance".] the vast majority were, and still are, written by dancing masters and choreographers.
Each dance consists of a series of figures, hopefully smoothly linked together, designed to fit to the chosen music. The most common form of music is 32 bar jigs or reels, but any music suitable for dancing can be used. In most dances the dancers will progress to a new position so that the next time through the music they are dancing with different people.
While English
folk dance
A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...
clubs generally embrace all types of country dance, American English country dance groups tend to exclude modern contra dances and
square dance
A square dance is a dance for four couples, or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances are part of a broad spectrum of dances known by various names: country dan ...
s.
Country dancing is intended for general participation, unlike folk dances such as
clogging, which are primarily
concert dances, and
ballroom dance
Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and te ...
s in which dancers dance with their partners independently of others. Bright, rhythmic and simple, country dances have appeal as a refreshing finale to an evening of stately dances such as the
minuet
A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''.
The term also describes the musical form tha ...
.
Historically, the term ''contra dance'' is another name for a country dance. Howe, in 1858, wrote that "The term 'Country Dance' is the one invariably used in all books on dancing that have been published in England during the last three centuries, while all works issued in France within the same period employ the term Contra Dance, or in French "Contre Danse". As the authority is equally good in both cases, either term is therefore correct. The Country or Contra Dance has been one of the most popular amusements in the British Isles, France, and other continental countries from time immemorial". However, "contra dance" is most commonly used today to refer to a specific American genre called contra dance.
History
Country dances began to influence courtly dance in the 15th century and became particularly popular at the court of
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...
. Many references to country dancing and titles shared with known 17th-century dances appear from this time, though few of these can be shown to refer to English country dance. While some early features resemble the
morris dance
Morris dancing is a form of English folklore, English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers in costume, usually wearing bell pads on their shins, their shoes or both. A ban ...
and other early styles, the influence of the courtly dances of Continental Europe, especially those of
Renaissance Italy, may also be seen, and it is probable that English country dance was affected by these at an early date. Little is known of these dances before the mid-17th century.
John Playford's ''
The English Dancing Master'' (1651) listed over a hundred tunes, each with its own figures. This was enormously popular, reprinted constantly for 80 years and much enlarged. Playford and his successors had a practical monopoly on the publication of dance manuals until 1711, and ceased publishing around 1728. During this period English country dances took a variety of forms including finite sets for two, three and four couples as well as circles and squares.

The country dance was introduced to the court of
Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
of France, where it became known as ''contredanse'', and later to Germany and Italy. André Lorin, who visited the English court in the late 17th century, presented a manuscript of dances in the English manner to Louis XIV on his return to France. In 1706
Raoul Auger Feuillet published his ''Recüeil de Contredances'', a collection of "''contredanses anglaises''" presented in a simplified form of
Beauchamp-Feuillet notation and including some dances invented by the author as well as authentic English dances. This was subsequently translated into English by
John Essex and published in England as ''For the Further Improvement of Dancing''.
By the 1720s the term ''contradanse'' had come to refer to longways sets divided into groups of three or two couples, which would remain normative until English country dance's eclipse.
The earliest French works refer only to the longways form as ''contradanse'', which allowed the false etymology of "a dance in which lines dance opposite one another".
The square-set type also had its vogue in France and spread to much of Europe, Russia and North America during the later 18th century as the
quadrille
The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six ''Contra dance, contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of ope ...
and the
cotillion. These usually require a group of eight people, a couple along each side. "
Les Lanciers", a descendant of the ''quadrille'', and the "Eightsome Reel" are examples of this kind of dance. Dancing in square sets still survives in Ireland, under the name
"set dancing" or "figure dancing".
For some time English publishers issued annual collections of these dances in popular pocket-books.
Jane Austen
Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...
,
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
and
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...
all loved country dancing and put detailed descriptions into their novels. But the vogue for the
waltz
The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...
and the quadrille ousted the country dance from English ballrooms in the early 19th century, though
Scottish country dance remained popular.
Influence
The English country dance and the French ''contredanse'', arriving independently in the American colonies, became the New England
contra dance, which experienced a resurgence in the mid-20th century. The quadrille evolved into square dance in the United States while in Ireland it contributed to the development of modern Irish set dance. English country dance in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
developed its own flavour and became the separate
Scottish country dance.
English céilidh is a special case, being a convergence of English, Irish and Scottish forms. In addition certain English country dances survived independently in the popular repertoire. One such is the
Virginia Reel, which is almost exactly the same as the "Sir Roger de Coverley".
The ''
contradanza
''Contradanza'' (also called ''contradanza criolla'', ''danza'', ''danza criolla'', or ''habanera'') is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th cen ...
'', the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the French ''contradanse'', became an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century. The ''contradanza'' was popular in Spain and spread throughout Spanish America during the 18th century, where it took on folkloric forms that still exist in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. In Cuba during the 19th century the ''contradanza'' became an important genre, the ancestor of
danzon,
mambo and
cha cha cha. Haitians fleeing the
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution ( or ; ) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known Slave rebellion, slave up ...
of 1791 brought to the Cuban version a Creole influence and a new syncopation.
The ''Engelska'' (Swedish for "English") or Danish ''Engelsk'' is a 16-bar Scandinavian folk dance in . Its name comes from the adoption in Scandinavia of English country dances and contra dances in the early 19th century. In Denmark the description "Engelsk" was used for both line and square dances of English origin.
Revival
Only due to the efforts of
Cecil Sharp,
Mary Neal and the
English Folk Dance and Song Society in the late 19th and early 20th century did a revival take place, so that for some time schoolchildren were taught country dances. In the early 20th century, traditional and historical dances began to be revived in England. Neal, one of the first to do so, was principally known for her work in ritual dances, but
Cecil Sharp, in the six volumes of his ''Country Dance Book'', published between 1909 and 1922, attempted to reconstruct English country dance as it was performed at the time of Playford, using the surviving traditional English village dances as a guide, as the manuals defined almost none of the figures described. Sharp and his students were, however, almost wholly concerned with English country dances as found in the early dance manuals: Sharp published 160 dances from the Playford manuals and 16 traditional village country dances. Sharp believed that the Playford dances, especially those with irregular forms, represented the original "folk" form of English country dance and that all later changes in the dance's long history were corruptions. This view is no longer held.
The first collection of modern English country dances since the 1820s, ''Maggot Pie'', was published in 1932, though only in the late 20th century did modern compositions become fully accepted. Reconstructions of historical dances and new compositions continue. Interpreters and composers of the 20th century include Douglas and Helen Kennedy, Pat Shaw, Tom Cook, Ken Sheffield, Charles Bolton, Michael Barraclough, Colin Hume, Gary Roodman, and Andrew Shaw.
The modern English country dance community in the United States consists primarily of liberal white professionals.
See also
*
Country–western dance
*
Baroque dance
*
International folk dance
*
Maypole
*
Stave dancing
*
Troyl, a
Cornish gathering similar to a céilidh
*
Twmpath, a
Welsh gathering similar to a céilidh
*
Schottische
The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian-era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (Spanish ...
References
External links
History
* A multi-edition transcription o
Playford's ''The Dancing Master,''compiled by Robert M. Keller, hosted by the Country Dance and Song Society. Or go straight to th
Evolution of the ''Playford dances'' (archived)by Nicole Salomone
.
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081012001536/http://members.aol.com/Dance18thc/ The Colonial Dancing MasterBooks and recordings.
* Alan Winston's history surve
''English Country Dance and its American Cousin''* Gene Murrow'
* John Gardiner-Garden's 10 volume 7,000 page magnum opus on social dance from 1450 to 190
''Historic Dance''
Interpretation
Michael BarracloughJohn Gardiner-Garden
Dance associations
Bay Area Country Dance Societypromotes, preserves, and teaches traditional English and American music and dance in the San Francisco Bay area.
CD NYCountry Dance New York holds weekly dances in New York City.
Country Dance and Song Societyis a United States umbrella organization whose members enjoy English dance.
Country Dance*New Yorkruns English and contra dance events in New York City.
Country Dance Society, Boston Centreruns English and contra dances in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Ann Arbor Community for Traditional Music and Danceis an umbrella organization whose sponsored events include English and American music and dance in Michigan.
Dover English Country Dancersruns English dances in Dover, DE, USA & presents demonstrations at festivals & historic sites in MD & DE.
Earthly Delights Historic Dance Academyrun dance classes and balls in Australia, as well as a Shakespeare Dance & Music Festival, Baroque Dance Weekend, Jane Austen Festival Australia and Yarrangobilly 19th Century Dance Retreat.
A list of English dance series.
English Folk Dance and Song Societyhas an online shop selling books and compact disks.
has written a history from 1933–1994, just about one of the oldest extant English Country Dance clubs in England.
Society for Creative Anachronismpractices many English country dances in a historical context.
The Leesburg Assemblyis an English Country Dance community centered in Northern Virginia, USA.
The Victoria English Country Dance Societyis a group of friendly people who gather once a week to dance in Victoria, BC, Canada. Live music is provided b
.
General
Folk dances from County of Nice, France
Scottish Country Dancing database
{{English folk music
Articles containing video clips
English country dance
Contra dance
European folk dances
Social dance
Dance forms in classical music
Nordic folk music
Nordic dances