Bourrée
Also known as: Bourée
History & Cultural Context
The bourrée began as a folk dance of the Auvergne in central France — Rousseau (1768) traced it to the branle of that region, though its exact origins are debated — and was taken up at the French court in the 17th century, where it was codified as a Baroque court dance. Danced in quick duple time beginning with an upbeat, it featured rapid, springing steps and a forward motion that distinguished it from the more measured minuet and gavotte, retaining a slightly rustic character within court refinement. Raoul-Auger Feuillet notated its characteristic step, the pas de bourrée, in Chorégraphie (1700), and Pierre Rameau described it in Le Maître à danser (1725). Composers including Bach and Handel wrote bourrées in their instrumental suites. The court form faded with changing tastes in the late 18th century, but the folk bourrée is still danced in the Auvergne and at bals folk today.
Cultural Significance
The Bourrée represented Baroque embrace of moderate liveliness within court dancing. Its popularity in instrumental suites made it one of the most enduring Baroque dance forms in classical music.
Peak Popularity
Signature Figures
- Pas de bourrée (fleuret)
- Demi-coupé
- Pas de bourrée with hop
Notable Codifiers
- Raoul-Auger Feuillet (Chorégraphie, 1700)
- Pierre Rameau (Le Maître à danser, 1725)
Dance Lineage
Track Your Bourrée Progress
Practice Bourrée figures between lessons with Figure Focus — step-by-step breakdowns, floor diagrams, and progress tracking. Free to use.
Bourrée Playlists
Curated collections on the LODance YouTube channel — performances to watch, lessons to learn from, and the right music to practice with. Tap a collection to play.
▶ Performances · Open on YouTube →
Bourrée Music & Tempo
Drawn from 25 Bourrée tracks in the LODance music library.
Example tracks at practice tempo
- Bourrée from Lute Suite No. 1 in E Minor — Johann Sebastian Bach104 BPM
- Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068: 4. Bourrée — Johann Sebastian Bach; Academy of Ancient Music; Christopher Hogwood111 BPM
- Bourrée from Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major — Johann Sebastian Bach108 BPM
- Bourrée from Water Music Suite No. 1 — George Frideric Handel100 BPM
- Bourrée I & II from English Suite No. 2 — Johann Sebastian Bach106 BPM
- Bourrée from Cello Suite No. 5 — J.S. Bach120 BPM
Bourrée in performance
One staged work in the Limelight catalogue contains Bourrée — 1 of them in a named act or number.
- Les fêtes d'Hébé1739BalletAct Prologue
Prologue — A Bourrée, a quick duple-metre French Baroque theatrical dance, was set as an instrumental number in the Prologue and was distinctive enough to be excerpted for the film Vatel. Source: "The Bourrée from the Prologue was used in the soundtrack of…
Every claim above is quoted from a cited source and names where in the work the style appears. Claims we could not place or could not quote are held back from this list and shown on the work’s own page instead. Browse the full performance catalogue →
What to Wear
Attire guidance for Bourrée and other Historic Baroque Court dances. Each card below is sized to the moment — class, practice, social, or competition — because the wardrobe shifts as the stakes do.
Reading the cards
In Class
Comfortable clothing with period-appropriate character shoes if available. Many historical dance classes welcome modern practice wear.
Social Dancing
Period recreation events call for Baroque-era costumes: women in corsets and full skirts, men in breeches and frock coats. Social historical dance events range from costumed to smart casual.
Competition
Rarely competed; performance events typically expect full period costume authentic to the 17th–18th century.
Shoes
Character shoes with a low (1–1.5") shaped heel. Historically accurate shoes have buckles and a Louis heel. For class: any low-heeled shoe with a smooth sole.
In Practice
Modern practice wear is welcome in most academic Baroque classes; serious reconstruction groups practice in period-appropriate footwear so the body learns the geometry the dances were designed for.
Price Range
- Budget: Modern character shoes $40–80; loose historically-styled clothing from costume retailers.
- Mid: Replica Louis-heel shoes $150–300; commissioned period-styled garments $200–800.
- Premium: Hand-stitched 18th-century reproduction costume $1,500–5,000+; bespoke buckle shoes $400–900.
Quick Tips
- •Suede-soled shoes allow controlled sliding and pivoting — essential for most partner dances.
- •Avoid rubber soles on dance floors; they grip too much and can cause knee injuries.
- •Bring a separate pair of clean shoes for the dance floor to keep it in good condition.
Sources & Further Reading
Where This Dance Is Documented
Feuillet notation; Rameau (1725)
An editor's note on where the technique for this dance is actually written down — sometimes a named book, sometimes the fact that no such book exists. A judgement, not a count of what we hold.
Cultural & Historical Context
Bourrée emerged from France during the 1670s—1750s. Understanding the cultural roots, musical traditions, and social circumstances of this era enriches appreciation for the dance's characteristics and significance.
Formative Influences
Codifiers & Standardizers:
Raoul-Auger Feuillet (Chorégraphie, 1700), Pierre Rameau (Le Maître à danser, 1725)
Signature Movement Vocabulary:
Pas de bourrée (fleuret), Demi-coupé, Pas de bourrée with hop
Primary Source Documents
The Library of Dance contains public-domain primary sources for dance history. Copyrighted modern syllabi are indexed with purchase links to their respective copyright owners. Search by dance name or codifier to discover primary source documents.
Last reviewed: August 2026 — This dance profile synthesizes historical research, cultural documentation, and contemporary practice knowledge to provide authoritative context.
Related Dances
More in Historic Baroque Court
Minuet
The Minuet was a stately Baroque couple dance with small, delicate steps and refined posture. It became the quintessential court dance of the 17th-18th centuries, symbolizing aristocratic elegance.
Gavotte
The Gavotte was a moderate-tempo Baroque couple dance featuring hopping steps and beginning on the third beat of the measure. It was second in popularity only to the minuet in 18th-century courts.
Sarabande
The Sarabande was a slow, dignified Baroque couple dance of Spanish/Mexican origin, featuring stately movement and often performed at the beginning of dance suites. It was one of the most popular Baroque dances.
Courante
The Courante was a running Renaissance/Baroque couple dance featuring rapid, flowing steps and turning figures. It was one of the most popular dances of the 16th-17th centuries.
Canarie
A fast dance in dotted triple or compound time, current at Italian and French courts from the late sixteenth century and named for the Atlantic islands from which Europeans believed it came. Its signature is percussive footwork — heels and toes struck audibly against the floor — over a driving dotted rhythm. It survived into the Baroque mainly as a theatrical dance and as one of the quickest members of the gigue family.
Chaconne
A continuous set of variations in triple time over a short repeating bass, which entered Europe around 1600 as a fast, disreputable song-dance and left it a century later as the grandest form in the French court and theatre. At the Paris Opéra it commonly closed the work, gathering soloists and corps through a long chain of couplets. Its scale and cumulative build made it the most ambitious dance a Baroque performer could be given.
Furlana
A quick couple dance in compound time from Friuli that became strongly identified with Venice, where it was danced at Carnival and in the streets as well as in polite rooms. Around the turn of the eighteenth century it was briefly taken up in Paris, where its Venetian associations were part of the point. Unlike most court dances of the period it never stopped being a folk dance in its home region.
Passacaille
A slow to moderate set of variations in triple time over a repeating bass, closely bound up with the chaconne and often indistinguishable from it. In the French theatre it supplied the long, weighty dance number — frequently a vehicle for a single star performer — and tends toward the minor mode and a grave sustained manner. Its name comes from Spanish instrumental practice rather than from any Spanish choreography.
Passepied
A quick dance in 3/8 beginning on an upbeat, taken from Breton popular tradition into the Paris ballroom and theatre in the seventeenth century. At court it used essentially the same footwork as the minuet, carried at markedly higher speed, which gave it a light, skimming quality rather than a stately one. It was a staple of the danced suite and of French opera-ballet through the first half of the eighteenth century.
Rigaudon
A brisk duple-time dance of Provençal popular origin that entered the French court repertory in the later seventeenth century and became equally popular in England. It begins on an upbeat, runs in clear four-bar phrases, and is characterised by springing steps that keep it lighter and more direct than the courtlier dances around it. It remained in ballroom and theatre use through the first half of the eighteenth century.
What did dancers wear?
Bourrée belongs to the Baroque Era (1600s–1700s) era. See how attire shaped the choreography — and the other way around.
Explore Baroque Era attire →Historic Baroque Court in art
Browse the gallery →Works from the wider Historic Baroque Court tradition — we have not yet identified enough that depict Bourrée specifically.
Le Bal paré
Augustin de Saint-Aubin
The royall : Mr. Isaac's new dance made for Her Majesty's birth day 1711
Unknown artist · 1711
The princess : Mr. Isaac's new dance made for Her Majestys birth day ; engraven in characters & figu
Unknown artist · 1710
Minuet la cour
Unknown artist
A long minuet as danced at Bath
Unknown artist · 2021
The Devonshire minuet
Unknown artist
The dance
Unknown artist
Scene de ballet
Unknown artist
The dancing lesson
Unknown artist · 2019
Dancers bowing before the minuet?
Unknown artist · 2019
Dancers bowing before the minuet?
Unknown artist
Ballet des muses
Unknown artist
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