Home      Discussion      Topics      Dictionary      Almanac
Signup       Login
Tourdion

Tourdion

Overview
The Magdalena y le Tourdion (or Tordion) is a lively dance, similar in nature to the Galliard
Galliard
The galliard was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, among others.-Dance:...

, and popular in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries in the Burgundian court
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory in Medieval Europe. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne, although it grew to have considerable possessions in the Low Countries as well...

. The dance was accompanied frequently by the basse danse
Basse danse
The basse danse, or "low dance", was the most popular court dance in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, especially at the Burgundian court, often in a combination of 6/4 and 3/2 time allowing for use of hemiola. When danced, couples moved quietly and gracefully in a slow gliding or...

, due to their contrasting tempi, and were danced alongside the Pavane
Pavane
The pavane, pavan, paven, pavin, pavian, pavine, or pavyn is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century .- Origin of term :The origin of this term is not known...

 and Galliard, and the Allemande
Allemande
An allemande is one of the most popular instrumental dance forms in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite...

 and Courante
Courante
The courante, corrente, coranto and corant are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era....

, also in pairs.http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-15700/Western-music#363047.hook

In a triple meter, the Tourdion's relation to the Galliard was described as being "more rapid and smooth than the other".
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Tourdion'
Start a new discussion about 'Tourdion'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum
 
Encyclopedia
The Magdalena y le Tourdion (or Tordion) is a lively dance, similar in nature to the Galliard
Galliard
The galliard was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, among others.-Dance:...

, and popular in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries in the Burgundian court
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory in Medieval Europe. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne, although it grew to have considerable possessions in the Low Countries as well...

. The dance was accompanied frequently by the basse danse
Basse danse
The basse danse, or "low dance", was the most popular court dance in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, especially at the Burgundian court, often in a combination of 6/4 and 3/2 time allowing for use of hemiola. When danced, couples moved quietly and gracefully in a slow gliding or...

, due to their contrasting tempi, and were danced alongside the Pavane
Pavane
The pavane, pavan, paven, pavin, pavian, pavine, or pavyn is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century .- Origin of term :The origin of this term is not known...

 and Galliard, and the Allemande
Allemande
An allemande is one of the most popular instrumental dance forms in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite...

 and Courante
Courante
The courante, corrente, coranto and corant are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era....

, also in pairs.http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-15700/Western-music#363047.hook

In a triple meter, the Tourdion's relation to the Galliard was described as being "more rapid and smooth than the other". Pierre Attaingnant
Pierre Attaingnant
Pierre Attaingnant was a French music printer, active in Paris.-Life:Attaingnant is considered to be the first to use single-impression movable type for music-printing, thus making it possible to print faster and cheaper than predecessors such as Ottaviano Petrucci. He published over 1500...

 popularized the Tourdion in his publication of assembled dances in 1530, preserved now in "The Attaingnant Dance Prints". Thoinot Arbeau
Thoinot Arbeau
Thoinot Arbeau is the anagrammatic pen name of French cleric Jehan Tabourot . Tabourot is most famous for his Orchésographie, a study of late sixteenth-century French Renaissance social dance....

later documented information about the Tourdion in his work Orchésographie (Orchesography), published in 1589. http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://graner.net/nicolas/arbeau/&prev=/search%3Fq%3DTourdion%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN

Dance Elements


Nearly all variations on the dance are based upon the simple Cinq Pas (Five Step) Tourdion. The Cinq Pas begins in either a posture droit or posture gauche (the former with the right foot slightly in front, the latter with the left), with weight evenly distributed between the feet. Assuming a posture gauche, a pied en l'air droit and a petit saut follow in one beat, that is, a small kick of the right foot into the air at the same time as a slight hop as to land with the left foot. (It should be remembered that all pied en l'air are accompanied by the petit saut of the opposite foot).

The step is repeated as a pied en l'air gauche, with the left foot kicked into the air and a slight hop to land upon the right. The two steps are then repeated, with care that the kicks are small (as the dance is brisk). Following the four kicks, one performs a saut moyen- a small jump into the air that pulls the feet into the posture gauche or droit- whichever is the opposite of the first. This combination of the saunt moyen and the posture is typically called a cadence.

The process repeats, mirrored to reflect the new starting posture, until the song ends.http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lod/vol1/galliardintro.html