Credits
“Aimable vainqueur”, con musica moderna
Source: Bartolomé Ferriol y Boxeraus: “Reglas utiles para los aficionados a danzar”, Capua: Joseph Testore 1745, p. 29 [recte: p. 237].
Performed by Mojca Gal (violin) and Thys Grobelnik (harpsichord); reconstruction of the dance: Edmund Fairfax
Recorded in Basel, 2022
© Mojca Gal
This video was made available to us with the kind permission of Mojca Gal.
About this recording
This is a reconstruction of the first three figures from Pécour’s ballroom dance the “Aimable vainqueur,” extant in Beauchamps dance notation (Feuillet 1704). It thus shows the use of ballroom technique, which was different from its counterpart in the theater. Ballroom technique is best characterised as a miniaturised version of the serious style (the latter being one of the four conventional styles of eighteenth-century ballet, along with the half-serious, comic and grotesque). According to such sources as Bonin (1712) and Taubert (1717) among others, ballroom dance was normally marked by the use of low leg gestures, only moderate or low ports de bras, little if any elevation in jumping, and steps that were easy to execute. Even the heels could be raised barely from the floor when moving on the toes. (Edmund Fairfax)
Reference to the publication
This video is related to the article by Mojca Gal: “The Performance Practice of Dance Music in 18th-Century France. Case Study: The Entrée Grave”, in: Tanz und Musik. Perspektiven für die Historische Musikpraxis, Basel 2023, 281–297 (BBHM 42)
Abstract
This article presents a part of the process of working on the entrée grave (a theatrical dance in the serious style of the 18th-century ballet), which the author learned to perform both as a dancer and as a musician. The discussion mainly focuses on the performance practice of the music, investigating points of intersection and correlations between music and ballet on the basis of period sources, and ultimately questioning the modern performance practice of ballet music.