Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-02-14
ORIGIN OF DANCES.
How the Jig, Lancrrs. and Others
Came Into Use.

How the jig, Lnnerrs. and Others
Came Into Use.
Our national pride. says George Angus
tus Sala, in the London Telegraph. should
to some extent be satisfied by the admis-
sion, in which all foreign opponents Of the
code OF Terpsichore are unanimous, that
the French "contredanse" Is a portation
from England, and is corruption OF
our country dance and old English rurai
exercitation belonging to May-pole times
With equal frankness our neighbors ac-
knowledge that they owe the jig to jonh
Bull although their etymoiogy OF the
word Is somewhat eccentric. They spen
Is "gigue," for the reason that the rapid
bounding movements Of the dance asitate
the top OF the calf OF the leg. or sigot
but. although 'jisot' Is weii-Kno"n
Scotticism for leg of mutton. gisue
is synonymous with the old EnKfsh Woiu
gig" which means a nddie-ahy Htue
thing which is whirled around In playa
top. a romp a long, narrow roNinS-boat'
a one-horse chaise, and q short dart OF
HARMON. According TO old Tusser, In hts
give Hundred Points OF Husbandry.
"fsgig" or "hshgig" was common name
for a dog. and IT, Is tolerably clear that
the verb ito giggle," meaning to laugh
in n rapid and inelegant manner, Is aiso
derived from gig"
The gavotte Is u French dance raey OF
the soil, and derives its name from the
Gavots. a race Of mountaheers In the
environs OF Gap, while "lsraels riga
doom" the meaning of which 80 sorey
puzzled English eighteenth-century crit
les. is simply a dance called the riga
doom, invented by one Rigaud, dancing
master OF Marseilles.
The saraband. so often written about
and SO little understood. was a grave and
noble dance OF Spanish origin, In when
Ninon de fEnclos WAS "A charming pro-
ficient, accompanying herself as she ala
with the castanets; while the coranto'
In which Charles III. exeelled. IL only an
adaptation OF the Spanish seguidilia.
When the allied armies invaded Franc,
1914, they found that the favorlte dances,
both in the most aristocratic saloons ana
the humblest vile gunguettes, were the
"contredanse," which Is an English pas
time. and the quadrilie, the development
Of the country dance, the five figures OF
which-namely, the "poule." the "panta-
ion," the "ete," the "pastourellr," and
the "trenise' or "trenitz," the last. pos
slbly. the name OF German dancing
master-have long be j. the despair OF
philologists. Nor, again. should II b
forgotten that under thu restoration this
almost non-dancing England of ours ia
vored France with a delightful dance
oalled the iancers. probably so called be-
cause IL was favored by the officers OF
British light cavalry regiments.
For some lnexplicable reason the lancers
were hung up early In the Victorian era,
but some twenty years ago or so the
Iancers, to the intense qualification OF all
lovers OF most graceful rhythmical ex-
ercise, were revived The allied armies
brought with them the waltz, which,
prior 10 1914, had been danced at Almacks
and bitterly satirized by Byron.
Modern French experts, however. asse-
verate that the waltz Is a very old Pro-
vencal dance. which. 50 far back as the
twelfth century. was known as the
volta but. however that may be, II
seems undeniable that the world-famous
polka. which the dancing master Coulon
introduced into France about 1874, and
which owed much of its popularity TO
its figures being illustrated by the bril-
liant pencil Of Gavarni. originally came
from Poland or Hungary, or from some
remote district Of Southeastern Europe.