Central French Dances

This guide is intended to act as an aide-mémoire for people learning and enjoying the traditional dances of central France. The bourrée, waltz, schottische and mazurka are found in various forms in much of France and elsewhere in Europe and form the core of the central French dance repertoire.

This is not intended as a historical treatise on the origins of the dances although I've tried to include what I know about the history of the dances. It is intended more as a reminder of what you may have seen on the dance floor with a few extra notes on things might not be so obvious.

The origin of most of these dances is pretty unclear, both because of a lack of historical material on peasant dances and because historians don't seem to be very interested in studying them. What is known about the dances mostly comes from the attempts of a few individuals to catalogue songs and dances at various times. This mainly happened when these folk dances came into fashion in royal courts and started to be danced in high society.

One thing we do know is that most of France's folk dances are descendants of early circle dances or branles, and they were originally accompanied only by song with no instruments. The dances gradually increased in complexity and the form of the dances developed from a circle, to sets of couples in a circle, to broken chains and couple dances. As musical instruments became more affordable to ordinary people, these started to be used to accompany the dances.

Dance Types

Dress and Footwear

It's nice to wear light loose clothing for French dancing. Many people like to dress up for a bal and put on their posh frock, and the flowing, turning dances certainly show off a long dress or billowy shirt nicely. Footwear should be reasonably slippy, particularly if the floor isn't very well polished. Hard leather soles are particularly good for sliding and turning gracefully. Trainers with good grips can really strain your ankles as you turn.

Let's not get too worried about this though - these are only folk dances!

WARNING

These dances can be seriously seductive! No responsibility is taken by the author for any marital problems, loss of income or endless daydreaming resulting from an obsession with the dances or with your chosen dance partner!

If you do find yourself getting seriously hooked then we can help put you in contact with fellow sufferers.

Copyright

Text and images copyright (2004) Graham Knapp/Les Panards Dansants. Please contact graham@frenchdanceleeds.co.uk to arrange permission for copying and reproduction. Many thanks.