Square Dance History Project
The rich story of North American square dance finally has a home in the digital age.

Browse Items (67 total)

  • Collection: Historical squares
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Marlbrouk Cotillion

This dance turns up in the Revolutionary War years of the United States. Here it's danced by a group of students from Brigham Young University. Note the bouncy rigadoon step, which originated in… View item
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Monterey Polka Quadrille

The Monterey Polka Quadrilles by Charles Durang (1848) (Finale [Figure 5] - Colonel May)Reconstructed by Richard Powers (1983)Music by Fleeting Moments Waltz & Quickstep Orchestra (courtesy of… View item
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Mr. Pastry Dances the Lancers

Richard Hearne (aka "Mr. Pastry") was an English vaudeville performer and a regular performer in children's shows on the BBC starting in the 1950s.Here he mimes being part of a set dancing the… View item
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Paine's First Set of Quadrilles, 1815

Paine's First Set of Quadrilles 1815 Nederlands Historisch Dans-en Theaterensemble, artistic director Maria Angad Gaur Performance: Jane Austen Bal, The Netherlands 2006 Part 2,3,4,5 and 6 only danced… View item
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Paine's First Set Quadrille (1815) - Quadrille Club

Danced by the Quadrille Club, under the direction of Ellis Rogers. The fourth figure (Trenis) has been omitted here.For comparison, this collection also includes the same dance performed by Nederlands… View item
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Parisian Varieties Quadrille

Mid-19th century quadrille, five figures, with music including waltz, polka, and mazurka.Les Variétés ParisiennesA new Quadrille, composed by the "Société Académique… View item
Website

Peter Beemer manuscript - Idaho

This is a collection of mid-19th century dance tunes from a remote Idaho location; as such, it is a useful record of the music being used for dances of the period. This website also contains… View item
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Quadrille (2 figures)

This is part of a lengthy presentation of historical dances by "Veronica's Vagabonds," Veronica McClure, director; recorded May 19, 1985, at Kramer's Hayloft, South Weymouth,… View item
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Quadrille (Länger, 1824, №1)

The first figure of a quadrille from 1824; the source document is Christian Länger's book, Terpsichore, Ein Taschenbuch der Neuesten Gesellschaftlichen Tänze, and can be read, in German,… View item
Document

Quadrille and Cotillion - history

Part of a history of English country dancing in America, this segment looks at the quadrille and the cotillion. Caution: The author is mistaken when he asserts, "The French had imported the… View item
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Quadrille Club, Les Lanciers or Duval's 2nd Set, Quadrilles No. 1, 2 &3

This video was intended as an introduction to Regency quadrille dancing for new members of Quadrille Club thus at one point in the first quadrille the ladies make a circle in the centre of the set… View item