Monferrina


Monferrina is a lively Italian folk dance in time named after the place of its origin, Montferrat, in the Italian region of Piedmont. It has spread from Piedmont throughout Northern Italy, in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and even into Switzerland. In Piedmont, it is usually accompanied by singing and it is danced by several couples.

Background

The dance starts with two circular promenades by couples arm-in-arm using a lively march step. The individual couples then join both hands for a cross-step with bent knees. The dance often contains bows and mimed teasing and coaxing.
The dance goes under several different names: Monferrina di Friuli, Monfrenna bulgnaisa, Monfrenna mudnaisa, Giardiniera or Jardinière and Baragazzina.
Sachs takes the two part structure of the dance, a procession followed by a couple figure, as indicative of its antiquity along with other Italian folk dances of this type such as the Trescone, Giga and Bergamesco.

English country dance

A Monferrina was an 18th-century country dance, named for its Italian place of origin, which became popular in England around 1800 under the names monfrina, monfreda, and manfredina. It was a lively dance to music in 6/8 time. Collections of music for the dance include Wheatstone's Country Dances for 1810.