La Boulangère

La Boulangère is a European Contredanse. It was published by Campbell in 1805, London. Mentioned in the article A Trip to Netherfield. It is a Circle as many as will dance. In this dance the couples are permuted by: 234561. The minor set lasts 48 bars. Someone thought this dance was Easy.

A dance of French origins, described in A Trip to Netherfield in The Playford Assembly, imported to the UK by Campbell in 1805. It was often used as the last dance at a ball as it is fairly simple for a time when everyone has lost concentration.

As with many old popular dances this one seems to have many variations in both English and French traditions. It is danced in a circle of arbitrary size, larger circles tend to have more than one active couple. It was often the final dance of a ball.

It is the only dance that Jane Austin actually mentions by name in one of her novels. In chapter 3 of Pride and Prejudice Mrs. Bennet lists Mr. Bingley's dance partners to her husband:

...First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was so vexed to see him stand up with her; but, however, he did not admire her at all: indeed, nobody can, you know; and he seemed quite struck with Jane as she was going down the dance. So, he inquired who she was, and got introduced and asked her for the two next. Then the two third he danced with Miss King, and the two fourth with Maria Lucas, and the two fifth with Jane again, and the two sixth with Lizzy, and the Boulanger——

The animation plays at 120 counts per minute normally, but the first time through the set the dance will often be slowed down so people can learn the moves more readily. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color, however the border of each dancer indicates what role they currently play so the border color may change each time through the minor set.

1-8Circle left
9-16Circle right
17-20First lady turns corner by right, first man spins alone
21-24First couple turn by left ending near next couple
25-28First man turns next lady by right, first lady spins alone
29-32First couple turn by left
33-36First lady turns next man by right, first man spins alone
37-40First couple turn by left
41-44First man turns next lady by right, first lady spins alone
45-48First couple turn by left ending at home

If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.

If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=LaBoulangere

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The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2020 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 by George W. Williams V
Creative Commons License My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.