A History of Country Dancing
with an emphasis on the steps
Anne Daye, HDS Director of Education and Research
The Country Dance of the Early Stuarts and The Commonwealth
Court records indicate that the country dance did not feature at court after 1603 until the 1620s, while other records show its continuance elsewhere. As James I came from Scotland and his wife from Denmark, it is likely that they had little knowledge of the vernacular dance of England. However, my research into the masque reveals that in 1619, steered by George Villiers the Marquis of Buckingham, the country dance was used as a marker of English culture in diplomacy with the French. After that, it became a regular conclusion to court balls, following the measures and the solo couple dances of galliards, lavoltas and courantes. The dance had, therefore, moved from the private arena of Queen Elizabeth’s recreation to the more public one of the masque (court dance theatre) and an audience including ambassadors from other countries.
The Civil War brought an end to court dancing, but not to dancing in other social milieus, as it was a fundamental aspect of social intercourse. Contrary to many assertions, Puritans did not ban dancing, only expressing disapproval of ‘promiscuous’ dancing, in other words unregulated and sexually-charged activity. However, the times were disturbed, and the notion of the identity of the country, as opposed to the monarch, was in question. As Keith Whitlock proposed in 1999, it may be that John Playford had a loyalist agenda to the king and non-Republican government in publishing his particular choice of dances in 1651.
The English Dancing Master published by John Playford 1651
Playford claims to have rushed the book to press under pressure from a rival ‘false and surrepticious copy’. His publication should be placed in the context of extant manuscripts concerning a similar repertoire: BL Add MS. 41996; BL Sloane MS 3858; BL Lansdowne 1115, all in the British Library, and MS Eng 1356, known as the Lovelace manuscript in the Houghton Library of Harvard University.
Renaissance stepping
Single and double steps were the foundation of dancing c.1550 – c.1650. The evidence is clear and consistent in Italian (Caroso, Negri, Santucci) and French (Arbeau) sources, for dances known in England. A double step is a measured step, in that three paces are performed within two bars, with a marked finish (such as closing the feet or ending with a foot in the air). Playford’s curt instructions indicate the same step: ‘foure steps forward or back, closing both feet’. It can be danced to duple or compound duple metres, but not to triple metres. In Playford 1651, the dance instructions are laid out beneath the music, providing a good guide to the match between double step and tune, demonstrating a consistent match of tune heard and step executed: a cadence. The courante step would go with compound duple metre and a hopped double with duple metre. Playford also dedicated the publication to ‘The Gentlemen of the Innes of Court, whose sweet and ayry Activity has crowned their Grand Solemnities with Admiration to all Spectators.’ The country dance was associated with lively energetic dancing in many sources. Indeed, the one step named in The Maurice Dance of BL Add MS 41996 (for couples of men and women) is a caper – a high jump passing the feet several times while in the air. The gentlemen of the Inns came from an upper level of society, ranging from aristocratic families to small gentry, but were famed for their dancing ability, being well-placed to take lessons with London dancing masters.
Bibliography
Arbeau, T. (1596) Orchesographie. Lengres: de Preyz. Facsimile reprint: Geneva, Minkoff 1972.
Barlow, J. (1985) The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford’s Dancing Master (1651 – ca. 1728). London: Faber
Caroso, F. (1581) Il Ballarino. Venice: Ziletti. Facsimile reprint: New York, Broude Bros. 1967
Mellor, H. & Bridgewater, L. (1933) John Playford’s The English Dancing Master. New York: Dance Horizons
Morley, T. A. (1966) A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke. London: Short 1597. Edited by Harman, r. London: Dent 1966
Negri, C. (1602) Le Gratie d’Amore. Milan: Pontio & Piccaglia. Facsimile reprint: Bologna, Forni 1969
Playford, J. (1651) The English Dancing Master. London: Playford. Facsimile reprint: Dean-Smith (ed.), London, Schott, 1957
Whitlock, K. (1999) John Playford’s The English Dancing Master 1650/1 as Cultural Politics in Heaney, M. (ed.) Folk Music Journal, vol. 7, 5
Copyright © 2024 Anne Daye. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License