The courante, corrente, coranto and corant are just some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. Modern usage will sometimes use the different spellings to distinguish types of courante (Italian spelling for the Italian dance etc.), but in the original sources spellings were inconsistent. Triple metre is a musical metre characterised by a primary division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 (compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with 3/4 and 9/8 being the most common examples. ... The Renaissance (French for rebirth, or Rinascimento in Italian), was a cultural movement in Italy (and in Europe in general) that began in the late Middle Ages, and spanned roughly the 14th through the 17th century. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ...

In the later Renaissance the dance was done with fast running and jumping steps, as described by Thoinot Arbeau. These steps are sometimes thought to be broken up by hops between the steps, but this is perhaps not supported by Arbeau's confusing and contradictory instructions, which describe each "saut" as resulting in the completion of a new foot placement. Thoinot Arbeau is the anagrammatic pen name of Jehan Tabourot, who was born in Dijon in 1519. ...

During its most common usage, in the Baroque period, the courante came in two varieties: French and Italian. The French type had many cross-accents and was a moderately fast dance, in contrast to the allemande that preceded it. The Italian courante was faster, more free-flowing and running, however, it is not clear whether this is significantly different from the French Renaissance courante described by Arbeau. In a Baroque dance suite, an Italian or French courante typically comes between the allemande and the sarabande, making it the second or third movement. In music, a suite is an organized set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed at a single sitting, as a separate musical performance, not accompanying an opera, ballet, or theater-piece. ... An allemande (also spelled allemanda, almain, or alman) (from French German) is a type of dance popular in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite, generally the first or second movement. ... In music, the sarabande (It. ... In music, a movement is a large division of a larger composition or musical form. ...

See also

• Renaissance dance
• Baroque dance