Quadrilles

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, courtly versions of English country dances that had been taken up at the court of Louis XIV and spread across Europe. The dance is performed by four couples in a rectangular formation. Though different music was composed for each quadrille according to the taste of the composer, the names of the five parts (or figures) remained the same, as did the steps and the figures themselves. The parts were called: Le Pantalon ("Trousers"), l’été ("Summer"), la Poule (The Hen"), la Pastourelle ("The Shepherd Girl"), and the Finale.