Here’s my take on it, from the glossary of my forthcoming book _Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century_:
Quadrille (1) A formal square dance in five or six figures, introduced in the early 19th century; the original figures were selected from the cotillion (definition 1), although additional figures were written later. (2) In the Northeast, a term used until the mid-20th century for a set of (usually three) squares done with the same partner. (3) A term used by modern square dance callers for a square phrased and prompted in New England style. (4) In some areas, a fiddle tune in 6/8 meter. Tony Parkes Billerica, Massachusetts, USA From: Rich Sbardella via Contra Callers <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, February 21, 2020 12:41 PM To: Amy Cann <[email protected]> Cc: Contra Callers <[email protected]> Subject: [Callers] Re: Totally open question: what's a "quadrille" ? Amy, My interpretation is that a quadrille is a square prompted in the New England tradition. In the modern western tradition few callers use this method, but I was taught by New England caller Dick Leggier who composed many promoted 'quadrille" figures to use in the MWSD environment. This is still my method of calling squares in the club scene. I am not sure why I understand it that way. Word of mouth is a contributor, but also older publications like Sets in Order often referred to many of these simple 64 step dances as quadrilles. Here's one Jerry Helt called by from Tony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9d46BSqRLI Rich Rich On Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 12:26 PM Amy Cann via Contra Callers <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: What do you think of as a quadrille, tune and/or dance? I'm very curious to hear as many different answers as there are ages/locations/opinions on here. :) (Tell you why *after* we have a nice long thread. :) Cheers, Amy _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
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