Capering & Kickery

Branle de la Poule

Edited to add: For those reading this long after it was originally posted, please note the significance of the original posting date!

• Era: mid-1500s (?) to present

"The mimed branle called the Branle de la Poule has found particular favor among the students at the great universities.  I have placed notes in the tablature to explain the gestures...."  (my translation from the original French)
          -- from a recently discovered dance fragment signed "T____ A____"

It's always a thrill to discover an entirely new piece of dance history, and since the 16th century is one of my favorites I was especially excited to find something new from that era to add to my dance repertoire.  The handwritten source for this dance was found amidst a varied collection of books and papers in a musty church basement located near a major research university and rare book library.  The language and phrasing of the source and the nearly illegible signature suggest that Branle de la Poule might actually be one of the miming branles (branles morguez) discussed in the pseudonymous Thoinot Arbeau's 1589 dance manual, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography), similar to the Branle des Lavandieres and Branle des Pois.  Like those branles, it includes imitative gestures and movements in keeping with its title.  The signature is mostly illegible, but the initials T and A are clear, suggesting that it might actually have been written by Arbeau himself.  The source has not yet been dated, but the contents are sufficiently exciting that I am making them known somewhat prematurely as a service to the historical dance community.

Arbeau's Tourdion

Arbeau speaks relatively briefly about the tourdion (often anglicized to "tordion"), the dance that followed the basse danse as the galliard follows the pavane, in his 1589 work Orchésographie.  But he does give two variations, which I am covering for the sake of completeness.  For details of the rhythm of the tourdion, please see the first post in my galliard series.  Music for the tourdion is played more quickly than that of the galliard and the steps, as a result, are performed closer to the ground and less vigorously:

...the said movement must be performed barely off the ground and gently as a damsel might do it; it is thus the steps and movements are made in dancing the tordion.

There is a textual hint that partners stay together in the tourdion, rather than separating and performing fancy solo steps as in the galliard:

Because in dancing the tordion, one always holds the damsel by the hand and he who dances it boisterously causes needless discomfort and jolting to said damsel.

Along with the older low/high pairing of basse danse/tourdion having gone out of fashion by the time of his writing in favor of the pavane/galliard, this implication of continuous contact might account for the limited repertoire of variations.  There is only so much one can comfortably vary one's steps while attached to a partner.

(The quotes above are from Mary Stewart Evans' English translation of Arbeau.)

Arbeau's Galliard Sequences, Part 2: Extended Step Sequences

This is the second in a series of five posts covering the different galliard sequences given in the 1589 work Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography).  The first post in the series (here) covered the basic rhythm and steps of the galliard plus six sequences in the basic cinq pas pattern.  This post covers the four double-length sequences Arbeau describes along with his principles for creating other eleven-step or longer variations.

Eleven-step sequences
Just as the basic cinq pas (five step) rhythm takes six beats of music and includes four movements plus a two-count cadence (jump and land), the double-length eleven-step sequences take twelve beats of music: ten movements plus a cadence.  A full variation to the left and right will thus take four bars of 6/4 music (or eight of 3/4, depending on your barring method.)

Arbeau's general principle for forming an eleven-step sequence is to replace the first cadence with two other movements or with a fleuret, a series of three rapid kicks about which more will be said in a later post in this series.  One could thus construct a simple eleven-step sequence by simply doing eleven kicks and a cadence.  But Arbeau helpfully provides four eleven-step sequences for those who do not wish to compose their own.  He notes that these sequences are particularly appropriate to the end of a dance and also recommends turning twice around during each set of eleven movements, reversing direction on the repeat.

To form sequences longer than eleven steps (seventeen, twenty-three, or more), one can follow the same principle of replacing two or three mid-sequence cadences with pairs of steps or fleurets.  I don't find it very satisfying musically to ignore so many cadences, however, and Arbeau didn't bother giving any suggested sequences longer than eleven steps.

Arbeau's Galliard Sequences, Part 1: Basic Cinq Pas Rhythm

This is the first in a series of five posts covering the different galliard sequences given in the 1589 work  Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography).  The pseudonymous Thoinot Arbeau's book gives seventeen different galliard sequences, with some of them having subvariations as well.  I've broken them down into rhythm groups for the sake of simplicity and post-length, so this post includes only six sequences, with the others to follow later.

Galliard rhythm
The basic cinq pas (five step) rhythm takes six beats of music, but it is not simply six even counts.  The cinq pas consists of four motions on the first four beats followed by a leap into the air just after the fifth beat and a landing on the sixth beat.  Arbeau calls this combination of jump-and-land a cadence (Fr. cadance).  He suggests staggering the landing slightly so that the back foot lands first, rather than thumping down squarely on both feet at once.  The music supports this; the rhythm tends to be "DAH dah dah DAAAH...di-dah" and could be counted "ONE-two-three-FOOOUR (jump) and SIX."  It's hard to tabulate the precise timing of the jump; in the variations below it will simply be given on the fifth count.

Arbeau gives six sequences (one with two variations) for this basic rhythm.  He does not lean towards colorful names, unfortunately; they are labeled things like "another cinq pas."  Each is led once with the left foot and once with the right foot for a total of two bars of 6/4 time (or four bars of 3/4 time, depending on how your galliard is barred). 

Branle de la Guerre

• Era: mid-1500s

Branle de la Guerre, the "branle of war," is another of the miscellaneous branles couppez (cut branles) described by Thoinot Arbeau in his 1589 dance manual, Orchésographie (available in an English translation by Mary Stewart Evans as Orchesography).  Other branles couppez include the suite of branles de Champagne couppez discussed here and branle de Charlotte, here.  Branles couppez are characterized by a mix of steps, kicks, and jumps derived from the opening set of branles, with the occasional insertion of "mesures diverses" which do not follow the regular rhythms of the opening set.

Julia Sutton, in her extensive notes on the Evans translation, suggests that this was most likely a miming dance of some kind, though Arbeau's presentation of the branle without any commentary or even a hint of any body motions or miming makes me consider this unlikely.  The tempo changes of the steps are enough to make it interesting even to modern dancers.

This branle is often taught as being divided into "peace" (the slow opening section) and "war" (the faster second section).  There is no textual justification for this; Arbeau makes no comment about this branle at all other than including it in his list of branles couppez.  Also note that while the branles Guerre, Aridan, and Charlotte are often added to the Champagne suite in the order in which they appear in Orchésographie (Charlotte-Guerre-Aridan), Arbeau does not actually describe them as part of that suite, merely as some of the "infinity of others" in the subtype of branles couppez.

Branle de Charlotte

• Era: mid-1500s

"Nous dancions lors entre aultres branles couppez, le branle de la Guerre, le branle d'Aridan, le branle de Charlotte, & une infinité d'aultres."
          -- Arbeau to Capriol in a dialogue from Orchésographie

The branle de Charlotte, or branle couppé Charlotte is one of the three "other" branles couppez described by Thoinot Arbeau (pseudonym of Jehan Taburot) in his 1589 dance manual, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography) after the suite of branles de Champagne couppez previously discussed.  Branles couppez are characterized by a mix of steps, kicks, and jumps derived from the opening set of branles, with the occasional insertion of "mesures diverses" which do not follow the regular rhythms of the opening set.

While the branles Guerre, Aridan, and Charlotte are often added to the Champagne suite in the order in which they appear in Orchésographie (Charlotte-Guerre-Aridan), Arbeau does not actually describe them as part of that suite, merely as some of the "infinity of others" in the subtype of branles couppez.

Branle du Hault Barrois

• Era: mid-1500s

"This branle here seems to me more lively than the previous ones and would be proper to dance in the winter in order to keep warm."
          -- Capriol to Arbeau in a dialogue from Orchésographie; my translation. 

As described in Thoinot Arbeau's book of dances, Orchésographie (1589; available in English translation as Orchesography), the branle du hault Barrois (the capitalization only of Barrois is textual; "hault" is generally modernized to "haut") is not a specific branle choreography, but a style of dancing branles such as the Double, Simple, and Bourgoigne from his opening set of branles, previously described here.  Rather than stepping lightly back and forth, the dancers would spring from one position to the other, following the pattern of whichever branle they were dancing.  Capriol is correct about its utility; adding the little springs to the basic steps makes it considerably more vigorous, perfect for cold weather.

Arbeau states that this is a lower-class dance done by household servants (vallets et chamberieres) but that young ladies and gentlemen sometimes dance in this style while masquerading as peasants or shepherds, or in private for fun.

Two "Branles Couppez" (Cut Branles) of Champagne

• Era: mid-1500s

"Our [musicians] of Lengres play ten in a suite, which they call the cut branles of Champagne."
          -- Capriol to Arbeau in a dialogue from Orchésographie; my translation. 

In Thoinot Arbeau's (pseudonym of Jehan Tabourot) 1589 dance manual, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography), the second set of branles he discusses are the "branles de Champagne couppez," or "cut branles of Champagne," one of a number of popular sets or "suittes" [sic] of branles.  Branles couppez, he explains, are characterized by a mix of steps, kicks, and jumps derived from the opening set of branles, with the occasional insertion of "mesures diverses" which do not follow the regular rhythms of the opening set.

Decoupements: Subdividing the Steps in Branles

• Era: mid-1500s

Young men who have great agility make decoupements at their pleasure...
         -- from a dialogue between Capriol and Arbeau from Orchésographie; my translation

In Thoinot Arbeau's (pseudonym of Jehan Tabourot) book of dances, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography), published in the late 1580s, he described four very simple branles which were generally played to open a dance.  The sequences are simple enough to quickly become dull.  Happily, Arbeau also included a solution: the decoupement, a substitution of sets of kicks for individual steps in the branles.  Adding the occasional decoupement into a branle is a good way to impress other dancers, possibly inspiring them to echo the move and start an escalating competition in decoupements.

Arbeau's Opening Set of Branles

• Era: mid-1500s

"I have noted that in good company, one ordinarily begins a dance with branles."
          -- Capriol to Arbeau in a dialogue from Orchésographie; my translation. 

When Thoinot Arbeau (pseudonym of Jehan Tabourot) published his book of dances, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography), in the late 1580s, he began his discussion of branles with a set of four easy branles with which he said musicians customarily opened a dance: Branle Double, Branle Simple, Branle Gay, and Branle de Bourgoigne (Burgundy).  He further explains that the four were danced by different age groups: the elderly would dance the first two "gravely," the young married people would dance the third, and the youngest would "lightly" or "nimbly" ("legierement" = modern "légèrement") dance the fourth.

Two Branles d'Escosse (Branles of Scotland)

• Era: mid-1500s

When Thoinot Arbeau (pseudonym of Jehan Tabourot) published his book of dances, Orchésographie (available in English translation as Orchesography), in the late 1580s, he described "regional" branles for Poitou, Brittany, and Scotland.  It is not clear whether the two Branles d'Escosse (literally "Branles of Scotland" but colloquially known as the Scottish Branles) he gives, the first and second in a suite of unknown length, were actually imported from Scotland, or merely a romantic French conception of what the Scots were doing.  The timing is suggestive: Arbeau described the Branles d'Escosse as having been "en vogue" around twenty years before, which would place them in the 1560s, soon after the marriage of the teenaged Mary Stuart to the future François II in 1558 and their brief reign from 1559-1560, though since Mary had been raised in France from the age of five, it seems unlikely that she personally introduced these dances!  Music still exists (published by Pierre Attaignant) for other suites of Branles d'Escosse, but no further dance instructions have come to light.

This pair of branles is choreographically notable in being the only standard branles to use the pied croisé (shown to the left) in which the free foot is crossed in front during a hop.  (There are grèves croisées in Arbeau's Gavottes, but those are atypical for other reasons.)