contredanse

American  

[kon-truh-dans, -dahns, kawn-tr^uh-dahns] / ˈkɒn trəˌdæns, -ˌdɑns, kɔ̃ trəˈdɑ̃s /

noun

plural

contredanses

1. a variation of the quadrille in which the dancers face each other.

2. a piece of music suitable for such a dance.

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contredanse British  

/ ˈkɒntrəˌdɑːns /

noun

1. a courtly Continental version of the English country dance, similar to the quadrille

2. music written for or in the rhythm of this dance

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Etymology

Origin of contredanse

1795–1805; < French, equivalent to contre- counter- + danse dance, misrendering of English country-dance, by association with the characteristic arrangement of dancers in rows facing each other

Example Sentences

Many sections resemble contredanse or quadrille: ballroom arrangements of circles, lines, stars; dancers holding hands as they pass.

From New York Times • Dec. 9, 2022

The habanera and its contredanse antecedents had a highly distinctive accompanying rhythm of four beats, which in musical notation - as in the opening of the Bizet song - looks like this.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Less than a month after mid-summer, the hour was not so much into morning, and there were some tireless votaries of Terpsichore inclined for still another contredanse, by way of wind up.

From No Quarter! by Reid, Mayne

The French contredanse was borrowed from the English ‘country-dance’.

From English Past and Present by Palmer, Abram Smythe

The strains of the orchestra who had struck the measure of the first figure of a contredanse sounded like fairy-music, distant, unreal in their ears.

From Lord Tony's Wife An Adventure of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness