The Lancers-Quadrilles or Les Lanciers is a Quadrille. It was published by John Duval in 1817. It was interpreted by William B. De Garmo in 1868 and published in The Prompter. It is a Square dance. There is no progression in this dance. The dance lasts 552 bars.
A discussion of the history of this dance may be found on the Regency Dance site
Music for this dance may be found at the South Carolina University Libraries, Digital Collection. This was published in 1854.
The figures of the quadrille evolved over time, in particular the "FORWARD TWO" figure originally had only the active lady and her vis-à-vis (opposite) advance, but later their partners were included in the movement. See The Prompter, page 41.
In the calls I number couples the way modern square dances do, not the way quadrilles used to (as I expect more people are familiar with square dances than quadrilles now).
The animation plays at 120 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
An online description of the dance may be found here.
Intro | 1-4 | Honour your partner |
5-8 | Honour your corner | |
Number1 | 1-4 | Heads FORWARD AND BACK |
5-8 | Heads FORWARD AND TURN Forward, two hand turn opposite, return | |
9-16 | Heads CROSS OVER Cross the set with the 1s inside, turn alone and come back with 1s outside | |
17-24 | Corner BALANCÉ move toward corner, honor, and two hand turn them then back | |
No1.2 | 1-4 | Repeat by the heads, except on the cross over the 1s start outside |
5-8 | Heads FORWARD AND TURN | |
9-16 | Heads CROSS OVER Cross the set with the 3s inside, turn alone and come back with 3s outside | |
17-24 | Corner BALANCÉ | |
No1.3 | 1-4 | Repeat by the sides |
5-8 | Sides FORWARD AND TURN | |
9-16 | Sides CROSS OVER Cross the set with the 2s inside, turn alone and come back with 2s outside | |
No1.4 | 1-8 | Corner BALANCÉ |
9-12 | Repeat by the sides | |
13-16 | Sides FORWARD AND TURN | |
17-24 | Sides CROSS OVER Cross the set with the 4s inside, turn alone and come back with 4s outside | |
25-32 | Corner BALANCÉ | |
Number2 | 1-4 | Heads FORWARD AND BACK |
5-8 | FORWARD AGAIN AND LEAVE LADIES IN CENTRE Ladies turn to face partner | |
9-12 | CHASSÉ TO RIGHT AND LEFT Chessez two steps right and two steps back left | |
13-16 | TURN TO PLACES Two hand turn partner back to places | |
17-20 | ALL FORWARD AND BACK IN TWO LINES Sides move to nearest head to form lines, forward and back | |
21-24 | TURN TO PLACES | |
No2.2 | 1-4 | Heads repeat |
5-8 | FORWARD AGAIN AND LEAVE LADIES IN CENTRE | |
9-12 | CHASSÉ TO RIGHT AND LEFT | |
13-16 | TURN TO PLACES | |
17-20 | ALL FORWARD AND BACK IN TWO LINES | |
21-24 | TURN TO PLACES | |
No2.3 | 1-4 | Sides repeat |
5-8 | FORWARD AGAIN AND LEAVE LADIES IN CENTRE | |
9-12 | CHASSÉ TO RIGHT AND LEFT | |
13-16 | TURN TO PLACES | |
17-20 | ALL FORWARD AND BACK IN TWO LINES Heads move to nearest side to form lines, forward and back | |
21-24 | TURN TO PLACES | |
No2.4 | 1-4 | Sides repeat |
5-8 | FORWARD AGAIN AND LEAVE LADIES IN CENTRE | |
9-12 | CHASSÉ TO RIGHT AND LEFT | |
13-16 | TURN TO PLACES | |
17-20 | ALL FORWARD AND BACK IN TWO LINES | |
21-24 | TURN TO PLACES | |
Number3 | 1-4 | Heads FORWARD AND BACK |
5-8 | FORWARD AGAIN AND SALUTE Courtesy and bow and back to places | |
9-12 | FOUR LADIES CROSS RIGHT HANDS Right hands across star half way round as gents promenade single counter-clockwise | |
13-16 | FOUR LADIES CROSS LEFT HANDS Left hands back as gents return and turn partners to places | |
No3.2 | 1-4 | Heads repeat |
5-8 | FORWARD AGAIN AND SALUTE | |
9-12 | FOUR LADIES CROSS RIGHT HANDS | |
13-16 | FOUR LADIES CROSS LEFT HANDS | |
No3.3 | 1-4 | Sides repeat |
5-8 | FORWARD AGAIN AND SALUTE | |
9-12 | FOUR LADIES CROSS RIGHT HANDS | |
13-16 | FOUR LADIES CROSS LEFT HANDS | |
No3.4 | 1-4 | Sides repeat |
5-8 | FORWARD AGAIN AND SALUTE | |
9-12 | FOUR LADIES CROSS RIGHT HANDS | |
13-16 | FOUR LADIES CROSS LEFT HANDS | |
Number4 | 1-4 | Heads LEAD RIGHT AND SALUTE Courtsey or bow |
5-8 | LEAD LEFT AND SALUTE Continue moving counter-clockwise to the couple originally on the left | |
9-12 | Return to places and SALUTE | |
13-20 | Heads RIGHT AND LEFT Heads right and left through over and back | |
No4.2 | 1-4 | Heads repeat Except lead left first |
5-8 | LEAD RIGHT AND SALUTE | |
9-12 | Return to places and SALUTE | |
13-20 | RIGHT AND LEFT | |
No4.3 | 1-4 | Repeat by the sides |
5-8 | LEAD LEFT AND SALUTE | |
9-12 | Return to places and SALUTE | |
13-20 | RIGHT AND LEFT | |
No4.4 | 1-4 | Repeat by the sides |
5-8 | LEAD RIGHT AND SALUTE | |
9-12 | Return to places and SALUTE | |
13-20 | RIGHT AND LEFT | |
Number5 | 1-16 | GRAND CHAIN Grand right and left, all the way round (not the usual half), honouring partners when you meet them |
17-24 | 1s FACE OUTWARD 1s promenade inside the set to end facing out, sides fall in behind them, 3s do not move and end in the right place | |
25-32 | All CHASSÉ CROISÉ AND BACK Chassez across, Ladies passing in front of partner, then chassez back | |
33-40 | PROMENADE Ladies single file circle clockwise while men go counter clockwise | |
41-44 | Same sex lines of four FORWARD AND BACK | |
45-48 | FORWARD AGAIN AND TURN PARTNER TO PLACES | |
No5.2 | 1-16 | Repeat with couple 3 leading |
17-24 | 3s FACE OUTWARD | |
25-32 | All CHASSÉ CROISÉ AND BACK | |
33-40 | PROMENADE | |
41-44 | lines of four FORWARD AND BACK | |
45-48 | FORWARD AGAIN AND TURN PARTNER TO PLACES | |
No5.3 | 1-16 | Repeat with couple 2 leading |
17-24 | 2s FACE OUTWARD | |
25-32 | All CHASSÉ CROISÉ AND BACK | |
33-40 | PROMENADE | |
41-44 | lines of four FORWARD AND BACK | |
45-48 | FORWARD AGAIN AND TURN PARTNER TO PLACES | |
No5.4 | 1-16 | Repeat with couple 4 leading |
17-24 | 4s FACE OUTWARD | |
25-32 | All CHASSÉ CROISÉ AND BACK | |
33-40 | PROMENADE | |
41-44 | lines of four FORWARD AND BACK | |
45-48 | FORWARD AGAIN AND TURN PARTNER TO PLACES | |
Finale | 1-16 | GRAND CHAIN |
If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.
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https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=TheLancersQuadrilles
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2021 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.