Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean - Temple University
Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean - Temple University
Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean - Temple University
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6 Peter Manuel<br />
tion as dance accompaniment; as Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote, s<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>the</strong><br />
tunes “are often re-performed, <strong>the</strong>y would be disgust<strong>in</strong>g if of a heavy composition.”<br />
5 The eight-bar phrases also corresponded to <strong>the</strong> length of <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividual<br />
dance figures, whose sequences would <strong>the</strong>n be repeated with different<br />
partners. While <strong>the</strong> contradance was thus not a vehicle for lofty <strong>in</strong>novation<br />
or elaboration, Mozart, Beethoven, Rameau, Gluck, and o<strong>the</strong>r classical composers—along<br />
with <strong>in</strong>numerable lesser dilettantes—penned <strong>the</strong>ir own contradances,<br />
some of which were adapted <strong>in</strong> ballrooms.<br />
Most of <strong>the</strong> over n<strong>in</strong>e hundred country dances <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Playford editions<br />
were <strong>in</strong> 6/4 time, although duple meter became <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly popular. In Playford’s<br />
presentation, as <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> numerous dance manuals of <strong>the</strong> eighteenth century,<br />
each dance was presented as a specific melody with a prescribed set of<br />
figures, though <strong>in</strong> practice a dance could be performed to any appropriately<br />
metered piece (as is <strong>the</strong> case <strong>in</strong> country and contra danc<strong>in</strong>g today). Composers<br />
and dance ensembles fur<strong>the</strong>r enriched <strong>the</strong> music by liberal borrow<strong>in</strong>g of<br />
current operatic airs and o<strong>the</strong>r urban songs. Figure 1.1 shows a modern notation<br />
of <strong>the</strong> first eight bars of a typical country dance, “The Elector of Hanover’s<br />
March,” whose orig<strong>in</strong>al is presented <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1710 edition of Playford’s compendium.<br />
In that edition, <strong>the</strong> staff notation, designated “longways for as many as<br />
will,” accompanies, like <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r dances, prose <strong>in</strong>structions for <strong>the</strong> figures<br />
(e.g., “The firft Man go under <strong>the</strong> fecund Couple’s hands, <strong>the</strong> firft Woman do<br />
<strong>the</strong> same, change Places, Foot it, and caft up”). The melody exhibits a strik<strong>in</strong>g<br />
feature of several of <strong>the</strong> Playford country dances—<strong>the</strong> presence of what would<br />
later be called <strong>the</strong> “habanera” rhythm, a trademark of <strong>the</strong> n<strong>in</strong>eteenth-century<br />
Cuban contradanza. 6 In fact, <strong>in</strong> this tune <strong>the</strong> habanera rhythm is not merely<br />
present but serves as a basic recurr<strong>in</strong>g pattern.<br />
Figure 1.1 “The Elector of Hanover’s March,” from Playford, The Danc<strong>in</strong>g Master, 1710.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> mid-1700s <strong>the</strong> format of danc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> square formation had become<br />
especially popular <strong>in</strong> France and typically came to be designated as <strong>the</strong><br />
“French” style (contredanse française), as opposed to <strong>the</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>al “English”<br />
longways style. This French contradance variant also evolved <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> quadrille,<br />
which derived from a variety of sources. One precedent was <strong>the</strong> earlier French<br />
dance called le cotillon, which, tak<strong>in</strong>g its name from a popular tune, was <strong>in</strong>corporated<br />
<strong>in</strong>to contredanse format as a variant for two couples and exported to<br />
England <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1760s as <strong>the</strong> “cotillion.” Refitted by dance masters with new<br />
choreographies for four couples, it dispensed with <strong>the</strong> need for couples to wait<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir turn <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> l<strong>in</strong>es and soon developed its own characteristic figures and<br />
lively music. In France around <strong>the</strong> same time, <strong>the</strong> quadrille emerged from <strong>the</strong>