What is a "rigaudon"?

The rigaudon (also spelled "rigadon", "rigadoon") is a sprightly 17th-century French baroque dance with a lively duple meter. The music is similar to that of a bourrée, but the rigaudon is rhythmically simpler with regular phrases (eight-measure phrases are most common). It is danced by couples, in duple or quadruple time. 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. Traditionally, the folk dance was associated with the provinces of Vavarais, Languedoc, Dauphiné, and Provence in southern France, and it became popular as a court dance during the reign of Louis XIV.

Its hopping steps were adopted by the skillful dancers of the French and English courts, where it remained fashionable through the 18th century. As a court dance, it was performed by dancers who ran, turned, and repeated in place a series of jumping steps. By the close of the 18th century, however, it had given way in popularity as a ballroom dance, along with the passepied, bourrée, and gigue, to the minuet.

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