A repertoire for Mademoiselle: Contredanse step-sequences in pre-Revolutionary France
(Susan de Guardiola)

In La Contredanse: Un tournant dans l’histoire française de la danse (2003; originally published in 1969 as La Contredanse et les renouvellements de la danse française) the late Jean-Michel Guilcher suggested that in the years immediately preceding the French Revolution, there was a trend toward “exigence accrue en matière de technique” (increasing technical demands) in the performance of the French contredanse, the beginning of an evolutionary process he described as a shift from the repertoire of simple steps and creative figures that characterized the mid-18th century contredanse to the simple figures and elaborate steps of the early nineteenth century quadrille. Evidence of the development of a more elaborate step-repertoire for the social dancer performing contredanses may be found in the enchaînements of steps for specific figures described in a late-18th century instructional manuscript written by a dance master for use in independent practice by his female student. Close examination of this manuscript offers an unusually specific view of the step-combinations available to the social dancer and, additionally, illuminates the use of technical terms to refer to both steps and figures. This paper will briefly examine the basic structural elements given for the contredanse in order to situate this manuscript within the French tradition of the 1760s-1780s and then review in detail some representative enchaînements.

Susan de Guardiola, New Haven, CT, USA:

Susan de Guardiola (BA, Yale; MSEd, University of New Haven) is an independent scholar in social dance history, an American resident in Russia. She has presented her work at conferences including the Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society Conference, the International Congress for Medieval Studies, and Stanford University Historical Dance Week. In 2013-2014 she conducted research at Harvard University as a New England Regional Fellow. Research interests include improvisation in social dance, the evolution of the ballroom repertoire over the course of the nineteenth century, and the development of American social dance from its European origins. Her teaching focuses on exploring and recreating both the skill sets and mindsets of the social dancers of the past. She publishes brief dance reconstructions and research excerpts online at Capering & Kickery (http:// www.kickery.com).