The Dances
There are hundreds of traditional dances, of which the most well-known are gavottes, the an dro, the 'hanter dro, the plinn and the Scottish. During the fest-noz, most dances are practiced in a chain or in a circle (everyone holds hands), but there are also dances in pairs and "choreographed" dances», meaning dances enriched with precise artistic elements (sequences, figures, etc.).
The major study on Breton dancing is "La tradition populaire de danse en Basse-Bretagne", book written from his thesis dissertation, by Jean-Michel Guilcher - new edition by Coop-Breizh - Chasse-Marée/Armen - 1995.
Read more about this topic: Fest Noz
Famous quotes containing the word dances:
“We have dancing ... from soon after sundown until a few minutes after nine o’clock.... Occasionally the boys who play the female partners in the dances exercise their ingenuity in dressing to look as girlish as possible. In the absence of lady duds they use leaves, and the leaf-clad beauties often look very pretty and always odd enough.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Annie: Dances like Pavaliver, that child.
George Grainger: Dances like who?
Annie: Pavaliver—the Russian dancer. Don’t be so ignorant.”
—Reginald Berkeley (1890–1935)