[SCA-Dance] Bransle du Rat?

[Charlene C]

On Sun, Nov 9, 2014 at 10:25 PM,  <tmcd at panix.com> wrote:

> Someone mentioned Bransle du Rat.  I found a YouTube video, there was
> a tune, it looked like a fun dance, we danced, all went "yay".
>
> I Googled for it, but there are only some 60 hits, none were in
> English, the one I translated said that they could not find it in
> Orch{e'}sographie (despite what they'd heard), and I found only one
> artist.
>
> Anyone know anything about this dance or music?

Several sites (in French) claim the music is "a traditional tune from
southwest France." Unless I find evidence to the contrary, I usually
read "traditional" as "nineteenth-century."

Most of the sites I found with anything about the dance (rather than
the tune) were just shorthand aide-memoires on how to do a variety of
branles. Most seem to lump the dance in with Arbeau's branles; other
with various other folk dances.


I did find this Italian site. I have no idea how accurate their info is.

http://ballifolk.altervista.org/branle_du_rat.html

They claim the dance is originated in Czechoslovakia and was in vogue
in France c. 1830-1850. Their description of how to the dance
specifies polka steps (which is another argument in favor of a later
dating).

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