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2 - The Choreography of the Viennese Minuet as a Group Dance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2025

Joseph Fort
Affiliation:
King's College London
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Summary

In this chapter the choreography of the minuet as it was performed in late eighteenth-century Vienna is reconstructed. Unlike previous iterations of the dance, the minuet in this context was performed as a group dance, undertaken by many couples dancing simultaneously, and the minuet’s development as a group dance is considered in relation to its previous history. The choreography is reconstructed from German-language dance treatises written around the end of the eighteenth century. The minuet step is explained, and readers are taught how to perform it. The main figures of the minuet are given – the Z-figure, the révérences, the giving of hands – and comparative schemes for these figures from the different treatises are set alongside each other. The overall structure of the dance is established, and practical logistics of performing the dance alongside other dancers in a crowded space are considered. The minuet’s association with the enactment of ‘nobility’ is interrogated.

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