Motto

Late November 1964 a dance group was founded within the student association RKSV Albertus Magnus. This group has the goal of “practising the historical dance and stimulating the ‘ars armandi’ between members”. The group does not have a name yet, but does have a motto: ‘En avant pour le galop’.

Name

On the 8th of December we celebrate that the constitution and the internal regulations are established. The goal ‘ars armandi’ was replaced by the more free concept of friendship. During 1965 the group requested recognition by RKSV Albertus Magnus. This was assigned and the group was named ‘Les Gais Galants’.

Repertoire

Our first repertoire is probably made by mister Th. Bus and a dance group from the city of Leiden. Nowadays there is nothing known about this group. The current repertoire is partly original dances and partly written in the style of historical dances. Many of these new dances were written by Gretel van Bruggen. From the very beginning the group performed as well. In 1978 the group was split in two. One group decided to emphasize the execution of the dances more. They formed a new group, called ‘Plaisir Courtois’.

Independence

In 1994 RKSV Albertus Magnus decided to focus more on their core business. They requested that all sub-associations would meet the required percentage of members that are also member of Albertus Magnus. Les Gais Galants (LGG) had not met this standard for years. Multiple shifts of the practice evenings by Albertus Magnus led to a deteriorated relation between the two groups. This caused LGG to look for a practice location of their own.

Tradition

The group has a student association background. This is still visible in the amount of traditions we have. Every year we organize a gala ball, where we always sing our club song. Apart from friendships within the group, we also have ties with other historical dancing groups. These are Les Precieuses Ridicules in Nijmegen, Tour de Mains in The Hague and Plaisir Courtois in Groningen. Gala balls of all the groups are visited by each other’s members.