quadrille

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 contredanses. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodies. Performed by four couples in a rectangular formation, it is related to American square dancing. The quadrille also gave rise to Cape Breton Square Dancing via American square dancing in New England. 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. The dance is also still found in Madagascar as well as old Caribbean culture.¶

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Quadrille”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.¶

quadrille is a dance for four or more couples, popular in the 19th century and consisting of five sections in either 2/4 or 6/8, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition.¹¶

The source record links this tradition to 26 external registers, which can be verified through the citation.¹¶