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Gavotte
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This article is about the folk and court dances and their music. For other uses, see Gavot

A gavotte dance in Brittany, France, 1878 The gavotte (also gavot or gavote) originated as a French folk dance, taking its name from the
Gavot people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné, where the dance originated. It is notated in 4/4 or 2/2 time and is of moderate tempo.
The distinctive rhythmic feature of the original gavotte is that phrases begin in the middle of the bar; that is, in either 4/4 or 2/2 time, the
phrases begin on the third quarter note of the bar, creating a half-measure upbeat, as illustrated below:

J.-M. Guilcher’s study of the gavotte in Brittany (1963) revealed great variety in modern practice, especially in the type of steps used, floor
patterns and formations and musical accompaniment. Gavottes in some areas are accompanied by singing, with a soloist alternating
either with a group or with another soloist; in other areas gavottes are accompanied by instruments such as the violin, drum, bagpipe or a
kind of shawm.
Unlike the branle, in which sideways motion was achieved by the dancer’s continually bringing the feet together, the gavotte required
crossing of the feet twice in each step pattern, and each step was followed by a hop. Various pantomimic motions, such as the choice of a
leader for the next dance, usually formed part of a gavotte performance.
The gavotte in Baroque music
The gavotte became popular in the court of Louis XIV where Jean-Baptiste Lully was the leading court composer. Consequently several
other composers of the Baroque period incorporated the dance as one of many optional additions to the standard instrumental suite of the
era. The examples in suites and partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach are best known. When present in the Baroque suite, the gavotte is
often played after the sarabande and before the gigue, along with other optional dances such as minuet, bourrée, rigaudon, and
passepied.
The gavotte in the Baroque period is typically in binary form. A notable exception is the rondo form of the Gavotte
from Bach's Partita No. 3 in E Major for solo violin, BWV 1006. Our son Bill played this as his first Contest
Solo Piece for Contra Bass in Jr. High.

Our Baby "Gavotte In Rondo Form" is the offspring of Rondo below and our mare Alaska McTavish,
daughter of Baba Saba and a Bask son belonging to Phyllis Inman named Pulask

Proud Meadows has imported a Schwarzwalder stallion Rondo from Germany. Also known as the Schwarzwalder Fuchs (Black Forest
Chestnut), the breed originated in the fairytale land of southwest Germany’s Black Forest. The breed overall is said to resemble a small
Noriker, and may be related to the Haflinger, two other Alpine breeds.
    Their stallion Rondo has the less common pure white mane and tail contrasting with his dark chestnut body- quite showy. He stands at
14.1 H.
    Traditionally used as a strong but compact draught horse in their mountainous native region, the breed survived attempts to crossbreed
it out of existence with Belgians in the years after WWI. So favored was it by the local farmers that they secretly bred their mares with
purebred stallions. This story reminds us of the similar tale of survival of the Friesian breed after the wars of the last century.
    At the turn of this millennium the number of mares was about 700 with about 45 registered stallions. This number is increasing due to
the Schwarzwalder’s increasing value as a leisure horse.
    We are hoping Gavotte will be a strong full bodied driving pony in the 14h range with the elegance and refinement the mare Alaska has.
Both of her parents seem to posses incredible hair genes with their full manes and tails so hopefully they will pass that on. I hope you
enjoyed the pictures. More will follow. A very special thanks to Larry and Jim of Proud Meadows for importing Rondo and allowing us the
opportunity to breed our mare to him.

Pictures a day later. . . . .