courante
/kʊˈrɒ̃t
/ /kʊˈrɑːnt/noun
1A 16th-century court dance consisting of short advances and retreats, later developed into a rapid gliding dance in quick triple time.It supplies descriptions of numerous dances, including the galliarde, volte, and courante, plus musical notation, with the steps and positions clearly defined....
- The Courante or Coranto was danced with light springing.
- This is done using courante steps hopping before each step of the single and the double
1.1A piece of music written for or in the style of a courante, typically one forming a movement of a suite.Although many late Renaissance dances comprised three strains, binary form came to be used in nearly all dance movements (allemandes, courantes, sarabandes, gigues, etc.) in 17th and 18th-century dance suites....
- To the traditional form of the suite - allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue - Bach added an introductory Prélude with a pair of fashionable modern dances.
- The suites mostly have four short movements, a prelude or allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue, with some variants.
Origin
Late 16th century: French, literally 'running', feminine present participle of courir.