Some dances of world culture, having acquired certain distinctive features, have become widespread not only in their homeland, but also outside it. The quadrille also refers to these - a pair dance, which used to be a salon dance and, with time, spread among the people.
Certain changes have occurred in movements and in the manner of performance for today, but the main compositional features of this peculiar historical dance have survived to the present day.
Dance history
Few people know that quadrille is a French dance. But there is another version according to which it originally arose at the end of the 17th century in England and had the name “countertance”. This is a dance born among the peasantry. There is another opinion about the origin of the name. Its essence is that the performers are located against each other, and the word "contre" is translated from French as "against." He became especially popular with several couples in France, and the name was given to him “quadrille”.
After decades, the dance became very popular and appeared in almost the entire European territory, including Russia, where its wide distribution began in the 19th century. Caught in an unusual atmosphere, the French quadrille incorporated real Russian traditions. Some differences were noted depending on the geography of distribution: in various regions, this magnificent dance was given movements that were characteristic only of local traditions. For example, in some regions, when it is performed, kisses are present.
Quadrille is a dance that was even presented at the assemblies of Peter the Great at the beginning of the 18th century.
Having conquered the visitors of the highest salons and spectators of the dance halls, the square dance quickly began to spread among the common people and turned into one of their favorite dances.
Old figures began to be processed, modified, and new ones began to appear. All these changes provided this truly folk dance with a long life.
Name History
The dance name “quadrille” clearly has common roots with the French “quadrille”, with “cuadrilla” Spanish and with “quadrum” Latin. In this regard, doubts arise about the country in which this dance arose.
Nevertheless, historical sources confirm the origin of the French, originally as a ballroom dance, formed from the English counter-dance. The latter was danced by peasants in England as early as the 17th century, and the quadrille itself had already spread to France, and then to other European countries in the 18-19th centuries.
Description
Quadrille is a lively, fast dance. Previously, couples were located opposite each other, in a quadrangle, and alternately performed their parts. Moreover, the dance consisted of five figures, which always ended with the general movement of all couples.
Despite the complexity of the figures, the movements were perfectly worked out and perfected by salon dancers.
The quadrille has changed a lot over time, and the names of the movements, many of which have disappeared, have simply been replaced by numbers. Some movements have been simplified.
Types of quadrille and their features
Folk quadrille is a dance that has many varieties: Russian and Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Latvian, Estonian, Belarusian and even American. All of them are distinguished by diversity and identity.
In addition, local options may exist. For example, a quadrille Russian can be called Ural, Moscow and Volga.
The Ukrainian quadrille is composed of many figures, reaching 12 in number.
The Belarusian quadrille is a complex of simplicity with a variety of constructions. The total number of figures is from 4 to 12. Distinctive in the Belarusian quadrille is the inclusion of soloing, either separately or in pairs.
Russian variety of quadrille
It should be noted that the later appeared genre of ditties is quite closely intertwined with this fun dance. What does it look like? Performers during the dance can sing ditties in any order: all together, singly or in pairs. Often, the square dance is performed to many famous songs.
Russian quadrille is a dance that has a peculiarity associated with an increase in the number of dancing couples and with the fact that some elements have appeared in the dance and each successive figure is separated from the previous movement by stopping the movement simultaneously with the music.
The Russian quadrille represents the following three groups in the form of their construction: angular or square, double-row or linear and circular.
The quadrille folk dance has several figures with their own names: a penetration, an asterisk, acquaintance, a collar, etc. They are either declared as the leader, or a sign is given by a trench or scarf for their performance.
Thanks to the combination of amazing arrogance and simplicity, the quadrille firmly established itself in the culture and life of the Russian people. This dance has absorbed many national traditions. Thanks to this, he changed greatly, compared with its original form - a quadrille from France.