Discovering the Congo Minuet
(Alan Jones)
This workshop will introduce participants to one of the curious mutations of the minuet in the late18th and early 19th centuries. The Congo Minuet was most often danced by a single couple as a divertissement in the second half of the ball, to give guests the chance to rest between contredanses. Documented in France and Spain, it was especially popular in French- and English-speaking lands of the New World. Our sources reflect this geographic spread, and the dance’s transformations over time: Brives (Toulouse, 1779), Saltator (Boston, 1802), and the anonymous Dance Book T.B. 1826, compiled in a still undetermined English-speaking country. The musical accompaniment will be the “Minué Congo,” found in two anonymous, undated manuscript collections at the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.
Alan Jones, Paris, France
Paris-based researcher and choreographer Alan Jones has given papers and classes at Burg Rothenfels on a number of occasions. Having performed Baroque dance widely in North America and Europe from the 1980s into the early 2000s, he now gives priority to choreographies of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, principally those of the United States. A frequent collaborator with the New York Baroque Dance Company (Catherine Turocy, director), he recently realized a suite of American dances for the company, including the Congo Minuet; this project was conducted in collaboration with Julia Bengtsson, and with support from the Centre National de la Danse. In addition to papers at Burg Rothenfels, he has presented at conferences hosted by the City University of New York, the court theater of Český Krumlov, and the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, among others. He is presently laying the groundwork for a website chronicling all the dancers, ballet masters, and dancing masters active in the early United States, along with the repertory they created. Contact:
