What is a jig in music?
The jig ( Irish: port, Scottish Gaelic: port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It developed in 16th-century England, and was quickly adopted on mainland Europe where it eventually became the final movement of the mature Baroque dance suite (the French gigue; Italian and Spanish giga ).
Where is the jig dance from?
During the seventeenth century the dance was adopted in Ireland and Scotland, where it was widely adapted, and the jig is now most often associated with these countries. The jig is second in popularity only to the reel in traditional Irish dance; it is popular but somewhat less common in Scottish country dance music.
What are jigs in Morris dancing?
When set dances, or figure dances for several couples, are danced to music in jig time, they are also called jigs. The few English Morris dances for solo dancers are also called jigs.
What is a slip jig dance?
The hop, or slip, jig is a similar step dance (solo dance) in 9/8 time. When set dances, or figure dances for several couples, are danced to music in jig time, they are also called jigs. The few English Morris dances for solo dancers are also called jigs. Related to the jig is the Italian giga, a lively couple dance still popular in...
What is the Irish jig called?
The jig is a celtic dance which takes its name from the type of music to which it is danced, also called a 'jig. ' The music takes its name from the French word 'gigue,' which is an older word for a fiddle.
Who invented the jig dance?
1686. The Irish Jig is widely accepted as Irish in origin and was likely to have originated from an Irish Clan marching tune. The first jig was published by John Playford, a music publisher and choirmaster of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1986.
Is the jig an English dance?
English Folk Dance and Song Society - Tune example: Jig.
How do you do the Celtic jig dance?
1:304:26Irish Jig - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipI it's 12 heel taps you've got to remember that and then the chorus. Then we go into heel toe heelMoreI it's 12 heel taps you've got to remember that and then the chorus. Then we go into heel toe heel into the course and then kick the can so that's the sequence of the dance.
What is a jig dance?
jig, folk dance, usually solo, that was popular in Scotland and northern England in the 16th and 17th centuries and in Ireland since the 18th century. It is an improvised dance performed with rapid footwork and a rigid torso.
What does jig mean in slang?
[ jig ] SHOW IPA. / dʒɪg / PHONETIC RESPELLING. noun Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a Black person.
Why is it called jig?
Jig is an old term for a lively dance, and in the Elizabethan era the word also became slang for a practical joke or a trick. This idiom derives from this obsolete slang word.
Is a jig Irish or Scottish?
The jig and the reel were considered to be the most important dance meters. It is an irony that the jig originated in England, but it became more popular in Ireland and Scotland.
What is a British jig?
The jig (Irish: port, Scottish Gaelic: port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune.
What are the steps to dance a jig?
0:323:12Savannah How: Learn an Irish jig - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipIt comes from the leg behind you swing into your knee. Hop. Back add one more hop back hop. Back 2 3MoreIt comes from the leg behind you swing into your knee. Hop. Back add one more hop back hop. Back 2 3 4 and that completes the step. Let's do that again my turn first your turn.
Who dances the jig on St Patrick's Day?
The jig developed in 16th-century England and was quickly adopted on the Continent where it eventually became the final movement of the mature Baroque dance suite (French gigue; Italian and Spanish giga). Today the jig is most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish Country dance, amongst others.
What culture and people traditionally perform Irish jigs?
A composite population, the Ulster-Scots, also known as Scotch-Irish, consisted of people with English and Scottish backgrounds who settled in the Ulster region of Ireland. The dance forms from this part of Ireland most likely bore cultural trademarks from Irish, English, and Scottish traditional dances.
Is a jig Irish or Scottish?
The jig and the reel were considered to be the most important dance meters. It is an irony that the jig originated in England, but it became more popular in Ireland and Scotland.
Where did the term jig come from?
Etymology. Jig is an old term for a lively dance, and in the Elizabethan era the word also became slang for a practical joke or a trick. This idiom derives from this obsolete slang word.
What is the name of jig?
The jig is a dance in Ireland. Giving the girl the nickname of Jig may suggest that she is from Ireland and that she is, or has been, a lively, spirited girl, since the jig is an extremely lively dance. The girl may have performed this dance on more than one occasion during their travels.
Who wrote Swallowtail jig?
The Swallowtail Jig – Words & Music by Mike Power.
What is a jig dance?
Irish jigs are performed by one or more soloists or by couples dancing the solo dance. The music is in 6/8time. The hop, or slip, jig is a similar step dance (solo dance) in 9/8time. When set dances, or figure dances for several couples, are danced to music in jig time, they are also called jigs. The few English Morris dances for solo dancers are also called jigs. Related to the jig is the Italian giga,a lively couple dance still popular in the folk tradition.
Where did the gigue originate?
Gigue, (French: “jig”) popular Baroque dance that originated in the British Isles and became widespread in aristocratic circles of Europe; also a medieval name for a bowed string instrument, from which the modern German word Geige (“violin”) derives. Whereas true jigs were quick and wild solo dances of…
Where did the jig dance originate?
The Jig as a dance was popular in Scotland and northern England in the 16th and 17th centuries and in Ireland since the 18th century. At the court of Elizabeth I, the Northern Jigs became fashionable in the 16th century, and the name was also loosely applied to other dances of folk origin. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Jigs appeared as stage ...
What is a jig?
Jigs. The Jig is a quick, lively dance-tune with a 6/8 time signature and is played in compound time. This means that its main beats (it has two dotted crotchets) can be sub-divided into groups of three quavers. In music-notation this would look like this: The Jig as a dance was popular in Scotland and northern England in ...
What is the tune for the dance based on Humber Jumber?
These are usually very simple tunes, easy to play and good for skip-change practice. The Frisky is a good example - the actual tune for the dance being based on an old street singing game – Humber Jumber. Its rhythm is mainly crotchet - quaver with only occasional appearances of quavers grouped in three.
How many times does a pipe jig give a dance?
This means that once through the Pipe Jig gives two times through a 32-bar dance. If the dance happens to be 40 or 48 bars long then the tune has to be modified to make it fit. The Pipe Jig has a rhythm that is mainly quavers throughout the tune.
What is a jig in Scottish country?
The actual Jig as a tune genre can be further sub-divided into different types or styles. All of these are represented in the repertoire of Scottish Country Dances and you can find out more on each style below. Single Jig. These are usually very simple tunes, easy to play and good for skip-change practice.
Is a single jig more complex than a double jig?
Some Single Jigs are more complex than that previously described. They are still rhythmically simpler than Double Jigs and contain a greater mix of the crotchet - quaver and three-quaver groupings, etc.
Which has more notes: single jig or double jig?
Double Jigs, as their name would imply, have more notes in them than Single Jigs and seem to be much busier.
What is a jig in theatre?
In theatres, beginning in Elizabethan London, a jig was a short comic drama that immediately followed a full-length play. This phenomenon added an additional comic or light-hearted offering at the end of a performance. A jig might include songs sung to popular tunes of the day, and it might feature dance, stage fighting, cross-dressing, ...
What is the jig in a ballad?
The jig probably had some relationship to, the street-ballad or dialogue- ballad, which could easily be converted to a sung-drama by adding to the narrative of the ballad various elements such as props, settings, choreography, or mime. This process was quickened by the performing talents of certain celebrated players, such as Richard Tarlton, William Kemp and George Attowel.
How many performers are there in stage jigs?
The surviving texts of stage jigs feature between 3-6 male performers, some cross-dressed, in a sung-drama that on the page last between 10 and 25 minutes, but would have been extended in performance (the extant texts call for comic sword fighting, episodes of dance and comic routines) and include impromptu improvisation. They were probably related to French farce or sotie and Italian commedia dell'arte.
When did the jig come into use?
In the 1590s this tension was negotiated by giving the comedians their own moment and their own space at the end of the performance. This practice developed, and during the last decade of the 16th century and into the 17th century, it became the jig in all of its variations, as one or more performers would sometimes reenter to perform an after-piece.
What is a stage jig?
The term, jig, at the same time maintained its common definition, which refers to a type of dance or music. In the various primary sources the term appears with a number of different spellings: jigg, jigge, gig, gigg, gigge, gigue, jigue, jeg, jegg, and jygge.
What is a Kemp's jig?
A famous 17th-century jig called Kemp's Jig was named for him and was published almost a half century after Kempe in the first book of John Playford 's The English Dancing Master of 1651. The writing and performance of jigs was not just reserved for professionals on London stages.
What was the jig dance called?
Courts in the reign of Louis XIV(1638-1715.) The Jig could have been a couple's dance at one time as, well known as "Gigue a deux" (see clip above), but only at one time (Feuillets Book-1699. ) Martins book: "Irish Hayes, Jiggs and Roundelays" (1589) or Heywoods Country measures, rounds and Jiggs (1603), seems to state Jigs were choral or round dances for several people, however traditionally they were not. The jig became very popular in France during the 16th. and 17th. Centuries.
How did the jig get its name?
The Jig derives its name from gigg or giga, the name of a short piece of music much in vogue in olden times , which was of a joyous lively character, and consisted of two parts of eight bars each, and these of the shortest notes. It was in great favor as a dance tune at Irish fairs, and from the music the dance took its name.
What is a jig melody?
Many fashionable dance figures were set to " Jig Melodies " ( 6/8 ), of the time and up till 1843, people were dancing hand in hand, around tables to to the measure of an Irish Jig. The Jig calls for a lively stamping of the heels and rapid footwork with a quiet torso.
What is the name of the dance that couples dance in Italy?
The Giga which has also survived as a couples dance in Italy, the two partners make two rounds and then " il suo balletto " ( a courting dance ). There are also the Muiñeira, which is a traditional Galician jig, The Muñeira: which is the same as the muiñeira, and the Muñeres: which is a traditional jigs from Asturias, Spain.
Where did the name Gigue come from?
The "Gigue" borrowed its much disputed name in the seventeenth century from the English Jig, which in
Who executed the jig in Tall Man?
1986 - Tall Man Executes a Jig by Irving Layton
What is the Irish cengail?
The Irish Cengail seems to be cognate with the old French verb, Ginguer ( to move the feet ,) and the refrain of this dance song was perhaps like that of the Fer Gigaoila, which consisted of a humorous kind of giggling, in short catches of the breath, accompanied by sudden starts of the body. The Jig derives its name from gigg or giga, the name ...
About
The Jig refers to a picture of a man enthusiastically dancing at a formal event. After first appearing online in 2005 and being used in demotivational posters and other jokes, it saw little spread until the beginning of 2019, when it became a popular reaction image.
Origin
On October 25th, 2005, LiveJournal [1] user wunder_bar edited an image of a dancing man in a blue shirt into a photograph of an older man dressed in a white shirt excitedly dancing at a party (shown below, left and right). The edited photograph was a submission for a photoshop contest.
Overview
In Irish step dance
The following distinction is primarily observed in modern competitive Irish dance and should not be confused with the general notion of how the jigs are played and classified among traditional Irish musicians.
A light jig is the second-fastest of all jigs. The performer's feet rarely leave the ground for long, as the step is fast, typically performed at a speed around 116 at feiseanna. There are several light ji…
Origins
The term jig was probably derived from the French giguer, meaning ‘to jump’ or the Italian giga. The use of “jig” in Irish dance derives from the Irish jigeánnai, itself borrowed from the Old English giga meaning ‘old dance’. It was known as a dance in 16th-century England, often in 8 time, and the term was used for a post-play entertainment featuring dance in early modern England, but which ‘probably employed a great variety of dances, solo (suitable for jigs), paired, round, country or co…
Ireland and Scotland
During the 17th century the dance was adopted in Ireland and Scotland, where it was widely adapted, and the jig is now most often associated with these countries, especially Ireland. The jig is second in popularity only to the reel in traditional Irish dance; it is popular but somewhat less common in Scottish country dance music. It is transcribed in compound metre, being 8 time. The most common structure of a jig is two eight-bar parts, performing two different steps, each onc…
Straight and sand jigs
In 19th-century America, the jig was the name adopted for a form of step dancing developed by enslaved African-Americans and later adopted by minstrel show performers. Danced to five-string banjo or fiddle tunes in 2 or 4 metre played at schottische tempo, the minstrel jig (also called the "straight jig" to distinguish it from Irish dances) was characterized by syncopated rhythm and eccentric movements. Jig dancers employed a repertoire of "hits" on the heel or toe, ""hops" on o…
See also
• Shakespearean dance
• The Irish Washerwoman
• Swing
External links
• Irish footwork