Kontredans Laboulonzer – La Boulangère

Laboulonzer (Fr. La Boulangère), is one of the nine most popular dances of the kontredans that are danced in Seychelles. The others include:  Avankat, also referred to as annavankat, (Fr. Avant Quatre), Avande (Fr. Avant Deux), Avantrwa (Fr. Avant Trois), Men Gos Men drwat (Fr. Main gauche main droite), Dozado (Fr. Dos à dos) Galo (Fr. Le galop), Final (Fr. Final) and Galo Final.  There are three other slightly different kontredans to the first group and these are: Lansye (Fr. Lancier), Polonez (Fr. Polonaise) and Karyon (Fr. Carillon).

To fully understand the background to this dance, I recommend that you first read the following posts:

• Kontredans -Contredance-, An Introduction
• The Figures and Calls of the Contredance of Seychelles-Figir ek Maloumbo Kontredans Seselwa

WHAT IS THE KONTREDANS?

The kontredans is defined as the repeated execution of a predefined sequence of figures, carefully designed to fit a fixed length of music, performed by a group of people, usually in couples. The figures involve interaction with your partner and/or with other dancers. The name  derives from the French word ‘Contredance’.

The kontredans consist of a series of elegant, bright and rythmic dances that were once popular all around the Seychelles and that are now unfortunately performed only at special occasions and festivals.  It is a social dance, and a partner is always required. The dancers form couples with the lady or danm always located on the right-hand side of the gentleman or kavalye (Fr. Cavalier). The couples then form sets of two couples in two long lines facing each other.  The size of the dance floor would usually dictate the length of the lines.

Origin of the Seychellois Kontredans Laboulonzer ( Fr. La Boulangère)

The Kontredans  Laboulonger derives from ‘La Boulangère a des écus’ (the baker has gold coins) which is an old  French song and dance.  Written around 1750 by Pierre Gallet, French poet and songwriter, this song, which has become a nursery rhyme, actually conceals an incredible secret. If you analyse it closely, it appears that the baker obviously doesn’t just bake bread, and her gold coins seem to come from a business that looks more like the oldest profession in the world than the sale of brioches or pastries!

Although it is classified as a kontredans, technically La boulangère is a ‘ronde’ or circle dance.

What is a ronde or circle dance?

Circle dance, is a style of social dance done in a circle to musical accompaniment, such as rhythm instruments and singing. It is a type of dance where anyone can join in without the need of partners.  It allows everyone, whatever age or background, to feel safe to relax and discover the joy of dancing.

Circle dancers are in physical contact with each other; the connection is made by hand-to-hand, finger-to-finger or hands-on-shoulders.  Being probably the oldest known dance formation, circle dancing is an ancient tradition common to many cultures for marking special occasions, rituals, strengthening community and encouraging togetherness.

For example, ‘Sur le Pont d’Avignon’ is a ronde that, as young kids, we used to dance in the evening as well as in primary school. There was no musical instrument involved , but we all sang while dancing.

The Traditional French ‘La Boulangère’

This ancient dance, was very popular with the peasants and the petty bourgeoisie, who indulged in it with great enthusiasm. It was also popular in the ‘Grands Bals’ of the French aristocrats. It is currently widely danced by children who would sing the song while performing the ‘ronde’. I have reproduced below the complete song, plus a link to the ’comptines’ ( nursery rhyme) . Only the first two verses are commonly sang and this could be because the rest of the verses contain contents that are not appropriate for children! ( Skip Add)

La Boulangère a Des Ecus

(1) écu, a medieval French gold coin

The Many Versions of La Boulangère- The Dance

Over the many years of its existence, many versions of ‘La Boulangère’ surfaced.  Below are descriptions of some of them:

Howe’s La Boulangère (1862)

In his American Dancing Master from 1862 (and several other publications in the 1860s), Elias Howe describes La Boulangère as follows:

Landrin’s La è re (c. 1760)

In his first Potpourri Francois des Contre-Danse Ancienne (c. 1760), Mr. Landrin of Paris describes the figure of ‘La Boulangère’ as follows:

Werner’s Le Boulanger (1780)

In his 13th book of dances, for the year 1780, Francis Werner describes ‘Le Boulanger’ as follows:

Campbell’s La Boulangère (c. 1789)

In his Fourth Collection, c. 1789, William Campbell describes ‘La Boulangère’ as follows:

Some links to other Descriptions of ‘La Boulangère’ include:

• Boulangère, Danse de la chaise
• Boulangère de Maraye en Othe
• Boulangère de Villemoyenne
• Boulangère de Bragelogne

Some YouTube links to the French ‘La Boulangère’ Dance. ( click off the adverts)

The dance below entitled “Reconstitution” par la compagnie Révérences de la contredanse révolutionnaire : “La boulangère”

La Boulangere ( Cotillon) William Campbell 1790

Similarities in melody

You will notice that the melody of the above dances is close of the Seychellois Laboulonzer, except that, through the creolisation process, the Seychellois dance has become more lively and has borrowed some figures from the other kontredans which were in turn inherited from the French Quadrille.

La Boulangère Guadeloupéen

I have, for interest’s sake, linked below the dance ‘La Boulangère’ from Guadeloupe. Please click on the link and you will experience an adaptation that is very different to the Original French dance, although it is till danced as a ‘ronde’.

Quadrille Guadeloupéen Ecole de Quadrille de Petit canal

LABOULONZER OF SEYCHELLES

The first section of this clip contains shows the children performing Laboulonzer and the the second part shows the kontredans Lansye. We will describe the ‘Lansye’ in a future post.

THE CALLS ASSOCIATED WITH THE  KONTREDANS  LABOULONZER.

Below are the typical calls and figures that are traditionally associated with Laboulonzer, excluding all the embellishments. As mentioned earlier, the length of the dance varies greatly among callers who may also add extra figures or who may even change the sequence of the figures. Six couples is the ideal number to dance Laboulonzer.

THE CALLS- MALOUMBO

Kavalye a vo plas, serse vo danm. Cavaliers cherchez vos dames et prenez place.

This call requests the gentlemen to find their partner and take their position on the dance floor. The dancers find their way on to the dance floor and all ladies position themselves on the right-hand side of the gentlemen. Two lines of couples are created with all dancers from both lines facing each other. Once on the floor, the dancers may start to gently move to the rythm of the music while waiting for the caller to start the dance. When all is ready the caller then starts:

Danm vire, kavalie frape vo men/ tour demi ron. Dames virez, cavaliers frappez vos mains et dames fait demi-tour.

The gentlemen clap their hands while the ladies turn clockwise and then anti-clockwise in front of them. Just before the musical phrase is over, the gentlemen and the ladies hold hands, to waist height, and form a small circle and dance by themselves, turning clockwise and then anti-clockwise, while staying in their position.

Ron salon. Formez une ronde.

Upon hearing this call all dancers form a circle. They all hold hands with the gentlemen and ladies in alternate position i.e., one gentleman then one lady and so on. They form a large circle and all dancers face inside the circle and dance in a clockwise direction.

Sometimes while forming the ‘ronde’ the caller may also call out atrap lanmen san delase– meaning hold hands and do not let go.

Redouble  ron kavalie. Dansez dans le sens inverse.

Apart from calling out redouble  ron kavalie, the caller may also call out ‘ronn agos/ronn adrwat’, requesting the dancers to reverse direction and dance anti-clockwise before closing the circle.

Frenm balon. Fermez la ronde

This call asks the dancers to close the circle, and they all make short steps towards each other, and then the caller calls out…

…en, de, trwa arrier. Un, deux , trois, ouvert la ronde

…asking the dancers to open the circle by dancing outwards while still facing inward. Once the circle is fully open the caller asks the dancers to repeat once more.

May may a gos /dwrat. Croisez les bras gauches/droits

As soon as the circle is fully open, one of the gentlemen ( first couple) ‘hooks’ his right arm underneath the right arm of the lady on his left (which technically is his partner), linking arms at the elbow and circle around each other using hopping steps. All the other dancers stay in their position, in the circle, and move to the rhythm of the music and clap their hands.

The gentleman then leaves his partner in the middle of the circle, (sometimes she re-joins the circle). She dances on her own and claps her had. Her partner dances towards the other dancers and hooks his left arm underneath the left arm of the lady from the couple who was on his right. They dance, circling around each other for a short while.

The gentleman then lets go of the lady who returns to her original spot and he returns to his partner, who is still on her own in the middle of the circle. He hooks his right arm underneath the right arm of his partner and dance together, circling around each other for a short while.

He then lets go again of his partner and dances towards the circle and hooks his left arm under the left arm of the lady of the next couple on the right and dance together, circling around each other for a short while. He then lets go of the lady, who returns to her original position and in the meantime he dances back again to his partner who is in the centre of the circle and they dance together again, circling around each other for a short while.  

He keeps on dancing with all the ladies and when he has danced with all of them, the caller will call ‘ron salon’.

The caller will embellish this section by singing the following phrase:

Madam ze vi laboulonzer (madame j’ai vu la boulangère). If there are six couple he will sing it at least six times and at each time he sings it the gentleman moves to the next lady and dances with her. The cycle then starts all over again with…

Ron salon. Formez une ronde.

Redouble ron kavalie– Dansez dans le sens inverse

Frenm balon. Fermez la ronde

…en, de, trwa arrier. Un, deux , trois, ouvert la ronde

May may a gos/drwat. Croisez les bras gauches/droits

This time the next gentleman who is on the right of the ‘first couple’ performs the same routine as performed by the first couple and so on, until all gentlemen have performed this figure. If there are six couples (which is the ideal number for this dance) then the callers will call ron salon six times.

Pronmenad – Fait la promenade au galop

The gentlemen hold their partner as if dancing the waltz and dance clockwise for the duration of one phrase and then anticlockwise for the next phrase. The steps the couples make though are faster that those of the waltz. The caller may decide to repeat this figure. When the phrase is about to end, the gentlemen let go of their partner and allow them to turn on their own while holding their right hand above their head like they would do in lasenn Anglez. They then all bow towards the onlookers and the dance stops.

THE CALLS FOR A COMPLETE LABOULONZER KONTREDANS DANCE.

Please note that the length of the dance depends on the number of couples dancing because it dictates the number of ‘ron salon’ that is called. The minimum number of couples required for this dance is four, giving rise to four calls of ‘ron salon’. Six couples is the  ideal number for this dance.

 I have attempted to reproduce below a popular version of Laboulonzer. This complete dance calls also include the embellishments.

EMBELLISHMENTS

Please note also that calls that are purely embellishments as in italics. The Kontredans would be very boring, like the classic quadrille, if it were not for the verbal embellishments. They are calls that are merely ‘fillers’ and not meant for specific figures. They are not essential to carry the overall line of the  melody  (or harmony), but serve instead to decorate that line/ figure (or harmony) and provide added interest and variety and give the performer the opportunity to add more life and expression to the dance.

Most embellishments are added when the figure is long, creating a ‘lull’ between the calls. For example, when performing lasenn de danm (Fr. La chaine des dames) which is a long figure and there is a wait before the next figure, it is therefore an ideal space to insert an embellishment.

THE LABOULONZER KONTREDANS CALLS

 (six couples dancing)

Frap ou lanmen kavalye

Frap ou lanmen kavalye

Danm vire kavalye frape

Ron demi ron

Ron salon

Redouble ron Kavalye

Gos drwat

Ti galo madanm adrwat

Ti galo rwa labalans

Ti galo rwa la kandans

Frenm balon san delase

Enn, de, trwa, ayer/ frenm balon

Ankor enn fwa le ron kavalie

Enn, de, trwa, ayer

May may agos/drwat,

Ambelisman

Madam ze vi laboulonzer ( madame j’ai vu La boulangère)

+++

Ron salon

Redouble ron Kavalye

Gos drwat

Ti galo rwa labalans

Ti galo rwa labalans

Ti galo rwa la kandans

Frenm balon san delase

Enn, de, trwa, ayer/ frenm balon

Ankor enn fwa le ron kavalie

Enn, de, trwa, ayer

May may agos/drwat,

Ambelisman

Madam ze vi laboulonzer ( madame j’ai vu La boulangère)

Repeat Ron Salon four more times

Pronmnad

______

POST AUTHOR’S NOTE:

I have to advise that I am in no way a specialist in music and dance and rely on my own knowledge and limited research to produce this post. I look forward to any contribution that will make this post more accurate and comprehensive.

Sources

• The booklet ‘ Lanmisik ek Ladans Traditionnel Seselwa- Ladans Salon / Kanmtole’ has greatly assisted me in this project. Any contribution that would assist in correcting or making these posts more comprehensive will be greatly appreciated.
• https://www.libraryofdance.org/dances/boulangere/
• https://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3laboulngr.htm
• Carnet de Bals:
• http://www.carnetdebals.com/danse-quadrille-francais.html
• YouTube

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