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{{Short description|Dance}}

A '''quadrille''' ('''quadrille de contre danse''') is a [[dance]] which involves four couples arranged in the shape of square with each couple facing the center of the square. One pair of facing couples is called the head couples, and the other pair is called the side couples. A dance figure will often be performed first by the head couples and then repeated by the side couples.

{{Other uses|Quadrille (disambiguation)}}

[[File:The First Quadrille at Almack's.jpg|thumb|250px|Lady Jersey introduces the quadrille to England]]

The '''quadrille''' is a [[dance]] that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six ''[[Contra dance|contredanse]]s''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodies.

Performed by four couples in a rectangular formation, it is related to [[traditional square dance|American square dancing]]. The quadrille also gave rise to [[Cape Breton Island|Cape Breton]] [[Traditional square dance|Square Dancing]] via [[Traditional square dance|American square dancing]] in [[New England]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sparling |first=Heather |date=2023-11-22 |title=Squaring Off: The Forgotten Caller in Cape Breton Square Dancing |journal=Yearbook for Traditional Music |volume=50 |pages=165–186 |doi=10.5921/yeartradmusi.50.2018.0165 |jstor=10.5921/yeartradmusi.50.2018.0165}}</ref> [[Les Lanciers|The Lancers]], a variant of the quadrille, became popular in the late 19th century and was still danced in the 20th century in folk-dance clubs. A derivative found in the Francophone [[Lesser Antilles]] is known as ''[[kwadril]]'', and in [[Jamaica]], quadrille is a traditional folk dance which is done in two styles i.e. ''ballroom'' and ''campstyle''.<ref name=":ja dances">{{Cite web|title= Jamaica's Heritage in Dance and Music|url=https://jamaica55.gov.jm/in-a-nutshell-jamaica/jamaica%E2%80%99s-heritage-in-dance-and-music/|access-date=2025-03-06 |website= Jamaica55.gov.jm|language=en}}</ref> The dance is also still found in [[Madagascar]] as well as old Caribbean culture.

''Quadrille'' was originally a four person card game, but came to refer to the dance by about [[1740]]. The dance itself is likely related to the [[cotillion]]s, and was introduced to France in about [[1760]], then to England in [[1808]].

==History==

As the quadrille grew in popularity during the early [[19th century]], it evolved into forms that used elements of the [[waltz]], including [[Caledonians]] and [[Lancers]].

[[File:Dance card00.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dance card|Dance engagements card]] for 11 January 1887, published by M W & Co Ltd ([[Marcus Ward & Co]]) 184 × 95mm (7¼ × 3¾in) (inside this dance engagements card is a list of all the dances for the evening – [[waltz|valse]], [[polka]], [[Les Lanciers|lancers]] and quadrille; opposite each dance is a space to record the name of the partner for that dance).]]

The term ''quadrille'' originated in 17th-century military parades in which four mounted horsemen executed square formations. The word probably derived from the Italian ''quadriglia'' (diminutive of ''quadra'', hence a small square).

The dance was introduced in France around 1760: originally it was a form of [[cotillion]] in which only two couples were used, but two more couples were eventually added to form the sides of a square. The couples in each corner of the square took turns, in performing the dance, where one couple danced, and the other couples rested. The "quadrille des contredanses" was now a lively dance with four couples, arranged in the shape of a square, each couple facing the center. One pair was called the "head" couple, the adjacent pairs the "side" couples. A dance figure was often performed first by the head couple and then repeated by the side couples. Terms used in the dance are mostly the same as those in [[ballet]], such as ''[[Glossary of ballet#J|jeté]], [[chassé]], [[croisé (dance)|croisé]], [[Glossary of ballet#Plié|plié]]'' and ''[[arabesque (ballet position)|arabesque]]''.

Reaching English high society in 1816 through [[Sarah Villiers, Countess of Jersey|Lady Jersey]], the quadrille became a craze. As it became ever more popular in the 19th century it evolved into forms that used elements of the [[waltz]], including The Caledonians and [[Les Lanciers|The Lancers]]. In Germany and Austria dance composers ([[Josef Lanner]] and the [[Johann Strauss I|Strauss]] family) composed for the quadrille. Its popularity made it a metaphor, the "[[stately quadrille]]", of the constant formation of fresh political alliances with different partners in order to maintain the [[Balance of power in international relations|balance of power]] in Europe. [[Lewis Carroll]] lampooned the dance in ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''{{'}}s "[[The Mock Turtle's Song|The Lobster Quadrille]]" (1865).

Though new music was composed, the names of the five parts (or ''figures'') remained the same, as did the steps and the figures themselves. The parts<ref name= Clarke>{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=Mary|title=The history of dance|year=1981|publisher=Crown Publishers|___location=New York|isbn=051754282X|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofdance0000clar}} p. 97</ref> were called:

# ''Le Pantalon'' ("Trousers")

# ''L'été'' ("Summer")

# ''La Poule'' (The Hen")

# ''La Pastourelle'' ("The Shepherd Girl")

# ''Finale''

[[Image:1817-accidents-in-quadrille-dancing.jpg|thumb|"Accidents in Quadrille Dancing", 1817 caricature]]

All the parts were popular dances and songs from that time (19th century): ''Le Pantalon'' was a popular song, the second and third part were popular dances, ''La Pastourelle'' was a well-known ballad by the cornet player Collinet. The finale was very lively.

Sometimes ''La Pastourelle'' was replaced by another figure; ''La Trénis''. This was a figure made by the dance master Trenitz. In the Viennese version of the quadrille both figures were used: ''La Trénis'' became the fourth part, and La Pastourelle the fifth, making a total of six parts.<ref>Bob Skiba, "Here, Everybody Dances: Social Dancing in Early Minnesota", ''Minnesota History'', vol. 55, no. 5 (Spring, 1997), 220, [http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/55/v55i05p217-227.pdf available online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403070840/http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/55/v55i05p217-227.pdf |date=2012-04-03 | access-date=2011-05-03}}</ref>

Notable quadrilles include among others the following: [[Le beau monde]], [[Le piège de Méduse]] and [[Le prophète]] (the quadrille from the latter was also included in the arrangement [[Les Patineurs (ballet)|Les Patineurs]]).

==The quadrille – musical analysis==

[[File:Quadrille.oggtheora.ogv|thumb|Quadrille (sample)]]

Thus the quadrille was a very intricate dance. The ''standard'' form contained five different parts, and the Viennese lengthened it to six different parts. The following table shows what the different parts look like, musically speaking:

* part 1: Pantalon (''written in ''{{music|time|2|4}}'' or ''{{music|time|6|8}})

*: theme A – theme B – theme A – theme C – theme A

* part 2: Été (''always written in ''{{music|time|2|4}})

*: theme A – theme B – theme B – theme A

* part 3: Poule (''always written in ''{{music|time|6|8}})

*: theme A – theme B – theme A – theme C – theme A – theme B – theme A

** ''Part 3 always begins with a two-measure introduction''

* part 4: Trénis (''always written in ''{{music|time|2|4}})

*: theme A – theme B – theme B – theme A

* part 5: Pastourelle (''always written in ''{{music|time|2|4}})

*: theme A – theme B – theme C – theme B – theme A

* part 6: Finale (''always written in ''{{music|time|2|4}})

*: theme A – theme A – theme B – theme B – theme A – theme A

** ''Part 6 always begins with a two-measure introduction''

All the themes are 8 measures long.

==See also==

{{NIE Poster|Quadrille (dance)|Quadrille}}

* [[Joseph Binns Hart]], composer of quadrilles

'''Historically related forms of dance'''

* [[Contra dance]]

* [[Square dance]]

* [[Country dance|English country dance]]

* [[Irish set dance]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:European dances]]

[[Category:French music history]]

[[Category:Dance forms in classical music]]

[[Category:Square dance]]

[[Category:Country dance]]

[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]