In 1539, a poem written in Panama by Fernando Guzman Mexia marked the first written account of the Sarabande dance.4 The dance originated in Guatemala and Panama and was named after the native Zarabanda which was a beaked flute-like instrument. It was said that the dance was created by a beautiful Spanish girl who danced it while singing a very grave tune and accompanying herself with castanets. 1
As the dance became popular in the Americas it soon made its way over to Europe. When the dance arrived in Spain not everyone was so fond of it, King Phillippe the Spain banned the dance in 1583 due to its demonic sound. The dance the appeared in Portugal in 1586, and then eventually in France. The Sarabande the gained much noteriety when French Cardinal Richelieu danced it to please Queen Anne of France (the mother of Louis XIV) in 1635. The Sarabande then made a come back in Spain in the 1600's where it became a favorite comedy dance of the court. 1
The dance then became a favorite of King Louis XIV of France, it was played in his court often where he danced to it. However, the French versions of the Sarabande all tend to be much slower than the Spanish version because the King, due to his exsessive weight and size couldn't keep up with the tempo! By 1750 the Sarabande had almost completely dissapeared from Europe.
The Sarabande is a slow dance in triple meter with the distinctive feature that beats 2 and 3 of the measure are often tied, giving it a distinctive rhythm of quarter note and half note in alteration. The half notes correspond with dragging steps in the dance, while the quarter notes are where quick steps are taken. 4
The steps have not been well documented over time, but most believe that the dance consisted mainly of a quick shift from toe-out to toe-in while other movements were slow glides. The dance starts with a coupe', chasse's and follows with a pas, tombes, sison, and boure. the remaining parts were often improved to include highly sensual or erotic dance moves.3
The dance can be done as a group, with a partner, or solo. During the Baroque period the Sarabande was considered to be wild and involve highly sexual pantomine in its movements... with large hip movements, indecent song lyrics, and women using highly sexual castanets. Men started dancing to it in France and would occasionally use the Tamborine... which was considered effeminate in that period. The dance was considered so satanic (due to its suggestions of sex) in Spain that many were arrested, lashed, or even exiled for even singing it.
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1 www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3sarbn1.htm (Streetswing.com)
2 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dihtml/diessay4.html
3 'Baroque Dance and the Chello Suites
4 Wikipedia.org