Quadrille - Dances Within Dances

Dances Within Dances

As the quadrille became even more popular in the 19th century, it evolved into forms that used elements of the waltz, including Caledonian, Lancer, Ländler, Deutscher, and so on. When the quadrille became known in Germany and Austria, the dance composers from that time (Josef Lanner and the Strauss Family) also took part in the hysteria of the quadrille.

Where the music was new with every quadrille composed, the names of the seven parts (or figures) remained the same. And if it were performed with dancers – audiences also preferred to listen to the dance alone, and not dance to it – the way of dancing to the parts remained (mostly) the same too. The parts were called:

1. Le Pantalon (a pair of trousers)
2. L’été (summer)
3. La Poule (hen)
4. La Pastourelle (shepherd girl)
5. Finale

All the parts were popular dances and songs from that time (19th century). Le Pantalon was a popular song, where 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, where La Trénis (it was translated into French) became the fourth part, and La Pastourelle the fifth part, making a total of six parts for the Viennese quadrille.

The quadrille was also danced in the portmore America. In the early part of the tenth century "complicated steps and patterns such as pigeon-winging – a showy maneuver involving, in part, jumping into the air and striking both legs together – and jigging at the corners" were part of the dance. Those fancy steps had by mid-century for the most part been replaced by simple walking steps.