By the end of the 19th century, many quadrilles were being published that didn't follow the earlier form of having multiple separate figures. Although this short dance does have two distinct parts, they are treated as one long figure. The source of the dance is The Prompter’s Handbook by J.A. French, published in Boston in 1893. The original instructions may be seen here. There are significant similarities in the figures to the Waltz Quadrille from the same source, which I described in an earlier post, as well a a generic similarity to other one-figure quadrilles of the late 19th century, which typically involve a mix of very simple figures interspersed with the entire set dancing in couples (waltz, polka, galop, etc., depending on the type of quadrille).
Of note in the figures is that the "passes" in the second part of the dance are a very old figure, used at least as far back as 1820 in the country dance form known as "Spanish Dances" or "Danse Espagnole". They still occur in some versions of the surviving Spanish Dance all the way through the 19th century, as well as in waltz quadrilles. Ladies should take care to use all of the time given to move to their new place.
It is not clear from the instructions whether the forward and back and passing of the ladies should use polka steps or walking steps. I have a personal preference for using polka steps, but walking would not be inappropriate. The entire set should, of course, do the same thing! Ladies should be careful to start all figures on the right foot and gentlemen on the left foot so that upon taking position for the "polka round" figures, the correct foot is free to begin the polka.
Music selection
The dance takes 16 bars played seven times through in addition to the standard 19th-century 8 bars of introduction (used to bow to partners and then to corners), with a final free polka of indeterminate length at the end of the dance. A tune of 32b repeated four times will allow for the entire dance (including honors) with an extra 24b of free polka at the end, which seems ample.
On to the actual dance:
Polka Quadrille
8b Introduction - honors to partner and then to corner
16b All polka round twice
8b First couple polkas once round inside set
24b The other three couples same in turn, starting with couple opposite first couple
4b All join hands and go forward and back
4b Pass each lady from the gentleman’s left to his right
8b All polka once round with new partners
48b Repeat three more times, ending with original partners
As soon as the dancers take their original partners, the set breaks up and the dancers continue to polka freely around the room until the music ends.
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