Kurant
Description
A court dance of French origin. In the Baroque period, the court dance was primarily a solo and theatrical dance of an exceptionally high technical level. The most widespread court dance, danced at all European courts, also in Poland. Danced at balls, as the arrangement of one couple, began all the dances. Called a low dance, that is, an unassuming dance, it was performed slowly, stately and seriously.
The chimes reached the apogee of its popularity in the second half of the 17th century, when it was often performed by Ballet de cour and Comedie Ballet. It was regarded as a showpiece dance of King Louis XIV. Displaced by minuet, it disappeared in the first half of the 18th century. It was then used mainly as an exercise in technique and style, as well as an introduction to other dance forms. Despite the loss of its success in France, it did not disappear from other courts of Europe, including the Polish and German courts, where it developed its own distinct forms. All masters of the dance emphasized that it was a serious dance, full of majesty, grace and nonchalance.
Pierre Rameau describes the basic step of the curant, which is temps de courante, or pas grâve. Pas de courante comes in two varieties: pas court, or short step, and pas long, or long step. The former consists of temps de courante and jetté, the latter of coupé and demi jetté.
Danced in triple meter, it uses characteristic hand movements, in places high port de bras. In the surviving original choreographies, the lines of the dance are simple, the stepping marked by dignity, which proves that the chimes have always been synonymous with royal dancing.
Bibliography
- Agnel Romana, Podstawowe formy tańca dworskiego w okresie Baroku [w:] W kręgu tańca barokowego, red. P. Grajter, Łódź, 2007.
- Conté Pierre, Danses anciennes de cour et de théâtre en France, Paris, 1974.
- Drabecka Maria, Tańce historyczne, t. I, Warszawa, 1975.
- Larousse-Bordas, Dictionnaire de la danse, Paris, 1999.
- Rameau Pierre, Le Maitre á danser, Paris, 1725.