Kontradans or theFrench-Haitian Contredanse,^[1] iscreolizeddance music formed in the 18th century in theFrench colony ofSaint-Domingue (Haiti)^[2] that evolved from the Englishcontra dance, or (country dance), which eventually spread throughout theCaribbean,Louisiana,Europe and the rest of theNew World from the Creoles of Saint-Domingue.^[3][4]

The "contredanse," the French-renamedcountry dance as indicated in a 1710 dance book calledRecuil de Contredance,^[5] began in the English courts and was imported to Haiti viaFrance (Brittany) through colonial rule and had been incorporated with African influences in Saint-Domingue.^[6][7][8] Contredanse flourished as it took on this creolized form establishing strong traditions in Haiti that would later influence variant forms throughout the Caribbean.^[9]

The usage of the drums, poetic song, antiphonal song form, and imitations of the colonial elite dance were the elements that had already begun to transform thecontredanse.^[10]

A broad group of Saint-Domingue planters, along with their slaves that fled theHaitian Revolution resettled in the old Providence ofOriente in easternCuba, that began coffee production around the cities ofSantiago andGuantanamo. This settlement provided an impetus of musical activities in those eastern areas. So, this creolized version of contredanse imported from Haiti would fuse with and reinforce thecriolla over the next couple of decades. Rhythmic styles such as thetango,habanera, and thecinquillo became dominant patterns as new emerging styles and led to the development of thecontradanza,^[11] and later in 1879, thedanzón; a couples dance and is regarded as the first truly national dance genre of Cuba.^[12][13]

A five-note musical figure calledquintolet (cinquillo in Cuba and the rest of the Spanish speaking Caribbean), became a chief feature to the kontradans and would figure prominently into the Haitian folk dance music calledméringue^[9] (a whipped egg and sugar confection popular in 18th century France), presumably because it captured the essence of the light nature of the dance where one gracefully shifts their weight between feet in a very fluid movement, animating the final section of the Haitiankontradans.^[1]

• Haitian styles of music
• French folk music

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