How to Dance the Minuet

Back in the 1900s, dancing was used to teach children etiquette and how to deal with the opposite sex in social situations. The minuet was usually the starting dance and was used as a basis for all other dances.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Face your partner, the man bows to the woman and the woman curtsies to the man at the same time.

2. Facing forward, the lady places her left hand on the gentleman's right hand.

3. Using the right foot to start, both partners take small steps, right foot then left foot, then the right foot again. Point the left toes and tap them 3 times.

4. Repeat the step sequence in Step 3 three times.

5. Face your partner again and curtsy or bow.

6. Turn in the opposite direction and repeat steps 3, 4 and 5.

7. Continue adding more steps to the dance as you master these first few steps.

8. Do not rush this dance. It is a beautiful slow dance and should be treated that way. You will be dancing with many different partners as this dance is done usually in a group.

Tips & Warnings

• Minuets are slow, usually in 4/4 time.
• There are more than 100 different steps to this dance.
• Always let the man lead. This might be tough for some women, but the dance will not look correct unless the male leads.

[andymeadows]

on 6/25/2009 Continuing my previous comment, the standard ballroom minuet continues with...

* More Z-patterns,
* Then they circle taking both hands,
* Then they dance backwards to finish.

In addition to this standard minuet for a couple there are also other choreographed ballroom minuets for a couple, minuets for larger groups, minuet country dances, and more complex theatrical minuets including solos.

You aren't going to be able to learn to dance the 17th/18th-century minuet from a website. You should find a Baroque dance teacher who knows what they're talking about. (Hint: check they can read Feuillet Notation (the dance notation of the early 18th-century) if they can't, then they're not qualified to be teaching.)

[andymeadows]

on 6/25/2009 If you're talking about authentic late 17th-century or 18th-century minuets then almost everything in this description is incorrect.

Minuets are in 3/4 time and, while some might consider them "slow", they are faster than something like a sarabande so "moderate" would be a better description; some early sources describe them as fast. Steps start with the right foot and are six counts long. A rough approximation of the most basic minuet step would be: step R, pause, step L, R, L; but there's a lot more to even this basic step than that!

The most common ballroom minuet for one couple during the 18th-century (the height of the minuet's popularity) consisted of the following floor patterns (sources vary in the details):

* A presentation section where the couple advance, separate and move apart,
* Several Z-patterns,
* The partners circle taking right hands,
* Then taking left hands,
*...

[cldahlen]

on 10/24/2008 Minuets are in 3/4 time, not in 4/4 as written in the "Tips & Warnings" section...