Author Archives: moiragoff

The Cotillon arrives in London

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Giovanni-Andrea Gallini’s Critical observations on the art of dancing, with its ‘collection of cotillons or French dances’ was probably first published in 1765. This was the year before he retired from the London stage as a dancer and director of dances at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket (London’s opera house). Gallini was also a dancing master, teaching pupils from high society. 1765 seems to have been the year of his first subscription ball, given at the ‘Great Assembly Room, King Street, St James’s’ – later advertisements would make clear that this was Almack’s, the famous club which also opened that year. Gallini’s subscription balls would become an annual event in London’s social calendar.

Cotillons are frequently referred to as ‘French country dances’ in English sources. They have been identified with the contredanses françaises that began publication in Paris in the early 1760s. Did Gallini introduce the cotillon to London? He had trained in Paris and, although he had worked continuously in London since the late 1750s, he may well have returned there from time to time. He must surely have maintained his dance contacts in France, since they would have been useful for his work at the King’s Theatre.

There are several brief accounts of Gallini’s career in London, although none of them pay attention to his work as a dancing master. I will return to him, but my immediate concern is the success of the cotillon in London’s ballrooms.

The Cotillon

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I’m a recent convert to the cotillon. I love these lively little French contredanses with their four couples facing inwards around a square engaging in a game of perpetual motion. I’d really like to dance more of them, but it is difficult to find enough good dancers who are able to get together regularly to learn and practice. Cotillons are not easy.

So, what is a cotillon? It’s a country dance but, as I said above, it is a French country dance – a contredanse – in which the couples stand in a square rather than in two lines (the usual English form). It alternates a figure, which can be quite complex, with a series of simpler changes. The dancers continually move around the set and they never stop dancing. Danced at a good speed, the cotillon is an 18th-century aerobic workout.

My ambition is to get together a group to work on a potpourri cotillon. In these little choreographies each change is followed by a different figure. Unlike the ordinary cotillon, which uses the same music throughout, the potpourri cotillon has new music for each successive change and its figure. So, it is a challenge to the dancers’ memory and musicality as well as their stamina.

Here’s an example of an early cotillon, which hasn’t yet developed into the structure found from the mid-18th century. It is danced with a pleasing energy and precision, although I can’t help feeling that no group of 18th-century dancers would have been quite so accurate in their performance.

Bad Dancing

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Dancing is hard. Even country dancing needs practice if it is to be enjoyed by dancers and onlookers. Baroque ballroom and stage dances require training, as well as a great deal of practice and rehearsal.

How can we recognise bad dancing?

Poor technique, unstylish and unmusical performances, dancers who ignore each other and are unmindful of their audience, dancers who simply don’t enjoy dancing – any one of these can make for bad dancing. More than one almost certainly does. Dancers of 18th and early 19th-century choreographies come from a variety of dance backgrounds. Some have no dance background at all. Just like dancers in other genres, they need to be aware of their level of skill and be prepared to work to improve it.

I am not going to draw attention to particular performances that I think are bad. I would much rather concentrate on those I think are good and try to analyse what makes them so. However, I do want to foster greater awareness of the different levels of skill and the constructive criticism that will raise standards among performers of these dances from history.

Dances from the 18th and early 19th centuries are worth the best performances we can give them. That is how we can share and enjoy them, among ourselves and with the wider world.

Good Dancing

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What is good dancing? How can we recognise it?

Everyone will have their own opinion as to what is good, and what is bad, dancing.

As a trained dancer, I look for sound technique, musicality and a pleasing style. Technique and musicality should be easy to judge, as long as we know what to look for, whereas style is more difficult to define. In duets and group dances I also want to see rapport between the dancers. Even in social dances I like to feel that the dancers are aware of, and respect, their audience.

Stage dances, of course, need a strong sense of performance. Even apparently abstract choreographies need characterisation. The dancers must know who their characters are and what story they are telling (clues very often lie in the libretti of the operas from which the dance music is taken), even if this is hidden from the audience.

With baroque dance, I also look for a sense of period – though I do not want to see slavishly ‘authentic’ dancing. How can we know how they danced in the 17th and 18th centuries? I want dancing that is engaging, whether it is sustained and elegant or swift and lively.

Here is a performance of a baroque ballroom dance which I like for its speed, clarity and evident pleasure in dancing.