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Videos of Quadrille Dancing

First introduced into Ireland from France in the early 1790s the Quadrilles were naturalised and gradually evolved into Irish set dancing during the 1800s. However, it is accepted that the only style of dancing the Quadrilles close to the original form from around 1800, is that in County Down.

"The only surviving sets in this style are those from County Down."
"This set of quadrilles is probably the closest to the original First Set of Quadrilles that came to Ireland around 1816."
[Pat Murphy, Toss the Feathers, Irish Set Dancing, 1995, p.47 & 107 respectively.]

The original quadrilles consisted of The First Set of Quadrilles, The Quadrilles, and due to their popularity they were followed by many additional variations such as The Second Set of Quadrilles, more commonly known as The Lancers, and The Third Set of Quadrilles, more commonly known as The Caledonians.

Generally in the Quadrilles, Lancers and Caledonians, which have 6, 5 and 5 figures respectively, the first figure is simple, and each figure thereafter increases in complexity.

The videos of the following figures of the Quadrilles, Lancers and Caledonians are reproduced with the kind permission of Roy Spence of Eclipse Promotions, Comber.

The Quadrilles

Dancers from East Down
John Davidson & Margaret Gibson, William McSeveney & Christina McBride, Samuel James Gibson and Margaret Gibson, James Peake & Jeannie Peake.

Piano Accordion - Jim Martin.

Quadrilles 1st figure

Quadrilles 2nd figure

Quadrilles 3rd figure

Quadrilles 4th figure

Quadrilles 5th figure

Quadrilles 6th figure

The Lancers

Dancers from East Down
John Davidson & Margaret Gibson, William McSeveney & Christina McBride, Samuel James Gibson and Margaret Gibson, James Peake & Jeannie Peake.

Piano Accordion - Jim Martin.

Lancers 1st figure

Lancers 2nd figure

Lancers 3rd figure

Lancers 4th figure

Lancers 5th figure

The Caledonians

Dancers from East Down
John Davidson & Margaret Gibson, William McSeveney & Christina McBride, Samuel James Gibson and Margaret Gibson, James Peake & Jeannie Peake.

Piano Accordion - Jim Martin.

Caledonians 1st figure

Caledonians 2nd figure

Caledonians 3rd figure

The 3rd figure of the Caledonians is identical to the 1st figure of the Lancers. (The title opening the above video should read Caledonian figure three.)

Caledonians 5th figure

A video of the 4th figure of the Caledonians is not available, however a written description of all figures can be found in Handed Down, Country Fiddling and Dancing in East and Central Down. 

Killinchy Dance

The usual format for dances in East Down in the period 1990 - 2010 was to have one square dance in an evening - this would alternate weekly between the Quadrilles, the Lancers or the Caledonians. The remainder of the program comprised of sequence dancing and two-hand round dances. Of the square dances the Lancers was the most popular. 

The following film clips are reproduced with the kind permission of Maurice McBride. They were recorded in 1993 and are of Mrs Peake's weekly dance in Killinchy Church Hall - they are all various figures of the Lancers. 

Piano Accordion - Jim Martin.

Lancers 1st figure

Lancers 2nd figure

Lancers 3rd figure

Lancers 4th figure

Lancers 5th figure
(only half)

The following clips are reproduced with the kind permission of Maurice McBride. The recordings are of a social outing of a some of  Killinchy dancer's day out in 1993.
Piano Accordion - 
Fiddle - Addy McVeigh

Lancers 4th figure

Lancers 5th figure
(part only)

Lancers 5th figure
(part only)

Quadrilles 4th Figure

Bangor Set Dancers
Mary McCaughey & Neal McFerran, Kathleen Davis & Ed Quiery, Pam Quiery & Tim Davis, Deborah Gadd & Davy Simpson having learned the Quadrilles from the dancers from Ardmillan.

Dance Music - Maurice Bradley (fiddle) from Ballinascreen, County Derry and Ciaran Kelly (box) from County Fermanagh

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