Allemande
Definition of an Allemande -Music:
An allemande (also spelled allemanda, almain, or alman) (from French “German”) is one of the most popular instrumental dance forms in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite, generally the first or second movement.
Definition of an Allemande – Dance:
A 17th and 18th century court dance developed in France from a German folk dance: a dance step with arms interlaced.
The name ‘country dance’ has nothing to do with country as opposed to town, but comes from the French ‘contre-danse’, describing the way in which the dancers start by standing up facing each other in two long rows, men on one side and girls on the other. The leading couple would then move off down the row, the other couples falling in behind them; there was no fancy footwork involved, but the dancers would weave their way in a variety of patterns across the floor, linking arms or hands with their partners s the figure required – the ‘allemande’figure involved a ‘a great deal of going hand in hand, and passing the hands over heach other’s heads in an elegant manner’. – Jane Austen, The World of Her Novels, Deirdre Le Faye, p. 104.
More on the topic:
- Allemande
- Allemande: Scottish Dancing Dictionary
- Midi podcast of an Allemande: J.S. Bach’s Partita in A minor for solo flute.
What a beautiful dance! I wish I had enough courage to form a Regency dance group in my neighborhood. :)
Thank you for including the YouTube video of Mstislav Rostropovich… wasn’t he amazing?! To think ..at that age.. to still be able to play a cello with such mental and physical dexterity! It was a joy to watch this. :)
It shows up in square dancing.. (from wiki)
Traditional and modern Western square dancing have a number of calls in common, but there are usually small differences in the way they are performed. For example, the “Allemande Left” is traditionally performed by grasping left hands with the other dancer, pulling away from each other slightly, and walking halfway around a central axis then stepping through. In modern Western dance the grip is modified so that each dancer grips the forearm of the other, and there is no pulling (that is, each dancer supports his or her own weight). These modifications make it easier to enter and exit the movement, and thus easier to incorporate into a long sequence of calls.
Thanks for sharing! I always look forward to your articles. Well, I’m a still a teen, so looking at these dances, its quite bizarre. My first, not exactly intelligent reaction is ‘whoa, that ain’t look like fun.”=)
I guess it just shows how muchh society has changed. Is the first picture/ drawing, of the gentlemen in the green coat and the lady in pink, is it from a real regency magazine or something? Because I’m really curious as to why the drawings are always ugly and people are a bit misshapen, bodily. I thought this was near the Romantic period, so weren’t they supposed to be more, realistic?
I hope I made sense.=)
Liana,
Thank you so much for visiting and for asking your question. The image is satiric. Poking fun at people was a common sport during the Regency era, and these cartoons were immensely popular. People actually stood in line and purchased these cartoons to hang in their houses. These two rather gruff looking people were drawn dancing a dance that required elegant movements.
Also, I get the sense that this couple belonged to the rising middle class. Here’s a link to a cartoon of aristocratic people dancing at Almack’s. There’s no elegance here. http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/lieven.gif
what a lovely post! now I want to dance too!
ah and btw in Spanish german is Alemán, similar to the French, Alemania is Germany
this is not related to your post, but maybe you’ll be interested in Dictionary.com today’s Hot Word, is Jane Austen related, cacography…
http://hotword.dictionary.com/jane-austen/
Berenice, I can honestly assert that my handwriting is best described as cacography. Love the word.
It is always helpful when I can actually see someone doing the dance steps. Thanks for the post. :)
Thank you for posting this! I have always wondered what the allemande would look like, and it is very pretty but very difficult looking! Have you ever tried dancing this?
I am a student of dance studies, and I am wondering what is the source for this satiric print of the Allemande? Is it from a personal collection, or is it available to view at a library somewhere? Do you know the date and place of publication and the artist/publisher? Many thanks,
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