Farandole

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For the 1945 film, see Farandole (film).

The farandole is an open-chain community dance popular in the County of Nice, France. Believed to derive from the medieval branle, it bears similarities to the gavotte, jig, and tarantella. The carmagnole of the French Revolution is a derivative.

Traditionally led by the abbat-mage holding a beribboned halberd, the dancers hold hands and skip at every beat; strong beats on one foot, alternating left and right, with the other foot in the air, and weak beats with both feet together. In the village of Belvédère, on the occasion of the festival honoring patron saint Blaise, the most recently-married couple leads the dance.

Musically, the dance is in 6/8 time, with a moderate to fast tempo, and played by a flute and drum. Georges Bizet included a farandole in his L'Arlésienne suite.

In Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty's ballet there a farandole in the Second Act in the Fourth Scène, where the dames propose a farandole.

Iconography going back to the Middle Ages shows figures similar to those of the modern farandole[1], justifying the frequent use of farandoles in reconstructions of medieval dance.