GAVOTTA, or GAVOTTE, is a kind of dance, the air of which has two brisk and lively strains in common time, each of which strains is twice played over. The first has usually four or eight bars; and the second contains eight, twelve, or more. The first begins with a minim, or two crotchets, or notes of equal value, and the hand rising; and ends with the fall of the hand upon the dominant or mediant of the mode, but never upon the final, unless it be a rondeau: and the last begins with the rise of the hand, and ends with the fall upon the final of the mode.