Catch us at The Flurry Festival this weekend!
Travels of the Contradanse: the French Connection
Saturday on Zoom 7:15pm EST

Join four of North America’s leading experts for a presentation outlining a fascinating journey through the evolution of the French contra dance, from the court dances of Baroque France, to the French Canadian and Haitian square dances, and then to NYC where queer and gender neutral approaches are becoming common place. This is an interactive session with square sequences and patterns through the Baroque, Quebecois, Haitian, and gender neutral forms with footwork, body movement, and music specific to each culture. NYBDC teachers Catherine Turocy and Sarah Edgar will be joined by Marcea Daiter and Jane Peck.
This is a huge contradance festival
!Info on our presentation
Event Schedule
Tickets
Study Materials for the French Contredanse, Greensleeves section, from Catherine Turocy
Questions? Contact me by email : cturocy@gmail.com
For the Beginner:
For the furthur improvement of dancing : a treatise of choreography or ye art of dancing country dances
after a new character, in which the figures, steps & manner of performing are describ’d, & ye rules
demonstrated in an easie method adapted to the meanest capacity. Translated from the French of
Monsr. Feuillet, and improv’d with many additions, all fairly engrav’d on copper plates, and a new
collection of country dances describ’d in ye same character by Iohn Essex, dancing master. London, 1710
(very basic look at steps and notation, plus beautifully geometrical contredanses)
https://www.loc.gov/resource/muspre1800.100095/?st=gallery
Simple notation style of minuets for various numbers of people:
An essay for the further improvement of dancing, being a collection of figure dances, of several numbers,
compos’d by the most eminent masters; describ’d in characters after the newest manner of Monsieur
Feuillet, London 1711
https://www.loc.gov/resource/musdi.134.0/?st=gallery
Dance notation for Les Manches Vertes, 1706:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/musdi.070.0/?sp=48
Les Manches Vertes video with walking and skipping steps
(1) Les Manches Vertes – YouTube