Dances of the Montevidean Salon	While music of great nobility was played in the splendid salons of the 18th century Europe , in the more modest salons of Montevideo the music was on a somewhat different scale, with pieces for guitar, piano or clavichord played during the card playing and the other social gatherings . These instruments were used to accompany songs that mostly expressed feelings of love and nostalgia. But the major diversion and pleasure for the young was dancing. Later on, the salons of Montevideo were transformed by the romantic movement and by political changes . Fashionable dances were imported from Europe , and the salons became meeting-places for an interesting mixture of young poets, writers, critics and for Argentinian immigrants, and spite of the Great War in South America the salons were enlivened with a new spirit. The very beginning of the dance in Uruguay was brought by the spaniards : Fandangos , Rigodones & Boleras after the Contradance , Mazurca , Polka , Chotis , Vals and Habanera will influence tremendously the dance in uruguayan culture . Some of them will change their original names , for example the Mazurca would be called Ranchera . In those days in the Montevidean Salons was very popular El Minuet , La Cuadrillas , Los Lanseros but the most important one was the Contradance because from it, were born the three main dances of our country side El Pericon , El Cielito and La Media Caña .
La Gavota	The word "Gavota" comes from the inhabitants of !Le Gavots! in the Capence region of France. La Gavota shows the influence of the Brant and the minuet and arrived in Uruguay around 1840 and continued until the end of the 19th Century . During the 20th Century there has been a reappearance of the dance through more for stage performers than for popular festivities . Magarinos Cervantes in his novela "Caramuru" refers to La Gavota as one of the most popular dances in the Montevideo salons . It also appears in the theatre and entertainment listings of !La Casa de las Comedias!, and it remained a French dance par excellence.
El Minue Montenero	By 1820, in Uruguay , Chile and Argentina, there was already talk of a local Latin American version of the European minuet, it was given the name 'Minue Montenero'. Later , in Argentina during the time of Rosas, it was called 'Minue Federal'. The main difference consists in the addition of a central allegro section, in which castanets are used to happy effect. After this bright interlude there is a return to the more ceremonial atmosphere of the opening minuet . So, the colonial salon opened it's doors to the Minue Montenero, which had its ancestry in the French minuet, but which was given it's own special character by those of Spanish descent born in the river plate region. They managed to stamp it with a spirit of freedom, a spirit that inspired all their ambitions. When at the height of it's popularity, El Minue Montenero was called 'El Nacional' ( The National ).
La Media Caña	La Media Caña is a dance from the first half of the 19th century, although in some historical documents it is found in a purely vocal form. The liveliest variations emerged during the Great War of Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. Despite it's somewhat solemn character the figures and movements are graceful and quite spirited. Like other related dances (El Pericon and El Cielito) it is a direct descendent of the European Contradance. Francisco Jose De Vali was the first to provide a written versions of the music, and his manuscript dated 1848 still survives.

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