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.

Performance
Formation: a line or circle of people holding hands.  Couples (men to the left of their partners) were the standard, though there are no gender-specific moves in this branle.  New couples joining in should attach themselves to the trailing lady rather than usurping the place of the leading gentleman.  All steps are taken sideways, rather than forward and back.  Steps should be small (about shoulder-width); hops and kicks should be restrained and fairly gentle, though the capriole can and should be as high as the dancer can conveniently leap.

Steps to the left are made slightly larger than steps to the right when dancing a branle, so the line or circle of dancers slowly drifts to the left over the course of the dance.

 Translation of terms from French into English
Double: double (sideways step-together-step-close)
Simple: single (sideways step-close)
Pied en l'air: kick
Pieds joincts: feet together
Sault majeur avec capriole: jump and capriole

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.  To land feet together, one actually jumps into position rather than simply placing the free foot on the ground.  The capriole is a rapid flicking of the feet (or legs, for those with the strength and speed) forward and back, landing with feet together.

(left, illustration from Arbeau of the capriole)

Dance Sequence
Double-L, Double-R, Double-L, Double-R; repeat
(steps double in speed)
Double-L, Double-R, Single-L, Single-R, Double-L, Single-R, Single-L, Double-R, Single-L, Kick-L-R-L-together, jump

Counts/Steps
1-8     Step left, close right, step left, close right  (double left)
9-16   Step right, close left, step right, close left (double right) 
(Repeat all of the above four times for a total of eight doubles)

1-4     Step left, close right, step left, close right  (double left)
5-8     Step right, close left, step right, close left (double right) 
1-2     Step left, close right.  (single left)
3-4     Step right, close left.  (single right)
5-8     Step left, close right, step left, close right  (double left)
1-2     Step right, close left.  (single right)
3-4     Step left, close right.  (single left)
5-8     Step right, close left, step right, close left (double right)
1-2     Step left, close right.  (single left)
3-7     Kick left, kick right, kick left, feet together (pause on 7)
8-9     Jump and capriole

Like the other branles couppez, Guerre has two distinct parts, with the steps well-matched to the tune.  But while Arbeau's barlines are irregular, the overall structure is not terribly varied: there is a thirty-two-beat first section, repeated, and a thirty-three-beat second section.  The difference between the sections lies primarily in the doubled speed of the steps: four doubles per repeat in the first thirty-two beats, and the equivalent of eight doubles plus the capriole in the second thirty-three beats.  To reflect this and to more easily notate the second section, I have used minims (half notes) as my basic beat-unit above rather than the semibreves (whole notes) I have used in previous posts on branles.

I've included a brief snippet of the tune for reference; click to play:

Recordings for Dancing
There are a surprisingly few commercial recordings available for Guerre.  The New York Renaissance Band's Thoinot Arbeau: The Music of Arbeau's Orchesographie is the source of the snippet above.  Despite being out of print, it is easily accessible, since the individual MP3 files from the album may be purchased for download.  Compagnie Maître Guillaume's Dance Music Of The French Renaissance also includes a very nice Guerre.