Dance derived from the English jig that was popular as a lively court dance in 17th-century Europe. Originally a solo dance, in its courtly form it was danced by couples in formal ballet style to music in 68 or 128 time. As a musical form, it became the last movement in the standard suite.

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The gigue is usually in 3/8 or in one of its compound metre derivatives, such as 6/8, 6/4, 9/8 or 12/16, although there are some gigues written in other meters (for example, the gigue from Bach's first French Suite (BWV 812), which is written in 4/4). They often have a contrapuntal texture. It often has accents on the third beats in the bar.

References

See also

• Jig (folk dance)
• Loure (slow gigue)