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English Country Dances
John Playford published his first collection of country dances in 1651. Many of the tunes included in the collection, had actually existed even earlier, originating from the beginning of the 17th century or even from the 16th century; some of them had even been mentioned as dances in the 16th century. Therefore, they are sometimes danced also in the costumes of the 16th century. No evidence can be found on whether Playford really described dances which had already been mentioned 100 years before. Still, it is known that some kind of country dances were already existing as early as at that time, but as there are no descriptions by the contemporaries, Playford's work is still used. The dances have extremely simple steps, and stress is laid on the dance figures. All dances are for at least two couples, the typical initial positioning involves two rows (usually, one for ladies and the other for gentlemen), a ring or a square.
Sources: John Playford The English Dancing Master: or, Plaine and easie Rules for the Dancing of Country Dances, with the tune to each dance (London 1651), The edition of 1698 of this book contained more than 200 dances, the edition of 1728 contained 350 dances. Raoul-Auger Feuillet' Recüeil de contredances (1706) |