rigaudon

rigaudon, sprightly 17th-century French folk dance for couples. Its hopping steps were adopted by the skillful dancers of the French and English courts, where it remained fashionable through the 18th century. Conjecture assigns its origins to Provençal sailors and its name to a Marseille dance master, Rigaud, who reputedly introduced the dance to Parisian society in 1630. As a court dance, it was performed by dancers who ran, turned, and repeated in place a series of jumping steps.

Its music, “rustic” in character, is written in 2/2 or 4/4 time. As a musical form the rigaudon occasionally appears in the suite; e.g., in Rameau’s Suite in E Minor for harpsichord.