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.

(See the previous post in this series for performance of these branles in their unornamented form.)

Translation of terms from French into English
Double: double (sideways step-together-step-close)
Simple: single (sideways step-close)
Greve or pied en l'air: kick

When performing a kick, the dancer should hop on one foot and kick the given foot gently forward.  So for a "kick left," one hops on the right foot and kicks the left foot forward.  If kicking three times in sequence, as in decoupements, one leaps from foot to foot as one kicks.

(left, illustration of "greve droite," or "kick right")

Arbeau gives two suggested decoupements, one for Branle Double and one for Branle Simple.  In each case, two beats of the step (half a double or an entire single) are replaced by three quick kicks.  The kicks are done at double the speed of the steps, so "kick-kick-kick" replaces "step-close," or "1-and-2" replaces "1-2."  There is a slight pause (half a beat) after each sequence of kicks; the rhythm is really "quick-quick-slow."

For Branle Double, Arbeau suggests dividing the last two beats of the sequence as follows:

Counts/Steps
1-4     Step left, close right, step left, close right  (double left)
5-8     Step right, close left, kick left kick right, kick left (double right with decoupement)

The rhythm is "1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-and-4."

For Branle Simple, the decoupement comes on the single step:

Counts/Steps
1-4     Step left, close right, step left, close right  (double left)
5-6     Kick left kick right, kick left  (single right with decoupement)

The rhythm is "1-2-3-4, 5-and-6."

An important note on the performance of decoupements
Because decoupements are danced at will, not every dancer in a line or circle will do them at the same time.  It is therefore critical that while one performs a decoupement, one must keep moving in the direction one would otherwise be moving at the same pace as the rest of the dancers.  The sideways motion does not stop; instead, the kicks travel slightly.  Failing to keep moving will result in the other dancers pulling too far away or jamming up too closely.  Practice decoupements until you can simultaneously kick and move sideways before trying them in company, lest you embarrass yourself and annoy the other dancers!

Stringing decoupements together
Memorizing these two decoupements is easy enough, but Arbeau also implies that some dancers could do more (see the opening quote above), though he advises his imaginary student Capriol to dance sedately and notes that it has always been held that the more "gravely" Branle Double is danced, the better.  Should one wish to ignore Arbeau's advice and dance decoupements in different places or in different branles or string them together in a longer sequence, here are some rules of thumb that will help the dancer avoid ending up on the wrong foot with the final kick:

• To replace a single, start the three kicks with the opposite foot than one would have used to start the single.  A single right is replaced by kicks left-right-left; a single left is replaced by right-left-right.

• To replace the last two beats of a double, likewise start the three kicks on the opposite foot from that on which you started the double.  So a double left becomes step left, close right, kick right-left-right and a double right becomes step right, close left, kick left-right-left.  (Rhythm: 1-2-3-and-4.)

• To replace the first two beats of a double, start the three kicks on the same foot as the double would have started on.  So a double right would become kick right-left-right, step right, close.  A double left would become kick left-right-left, step left, close.  (Rhythm: 1-and-2-3-4.)

• To replace an entire double, start on the same foot as the double would have started on and string two sets of three kicks together.  A double left would become kick left-right-left, kick right-left-right; a double right becomes kick right-left-right, kick left-right-left.  (Rhythm: 1-and-2, 3-and-4.)

• To do Branle Simple (double left, single right) as nothing but decoupements, the sequence would thus become: kick left-right-left, kick right-left-right (double left) kick left-right-left (single right).

• To do two doubles in sequence entirely with decoupements, one must hop twice in a row on the same foot when switching directions: kick left-right-left, kick right-left-right (double left) kick right-left-right, kick left-right-left (double right).

A final suggestion: if using decoupements in the Branles d'Escosse, one might consider using a pied croisé rather than a straight pied en l'air for the kick, since those branles commonly employ the crossed kick rather than the straight one.  (See the post on performing the Branles d'Escosse for details of the pied croisé.)  Be warned that this makes the sideways motion a bit more difficult!