Square resources page: Nils’ sneak peek

Nils on the trombone.

Nils Fredland, our American Dance/Music Projects director, has been at work on some square dance resources to be available on our website. He’s posted here — on his own wonderful blog (which usually features reflections on an evening’s calling) — with a sneak preview.

As he says, “One early aspect of the project was to create a set of broad definitions about the various styles of square dancing,” which is what he shares with us in his post.

An excerpt:

QUADRILLE STYLE

A style of dancing rooted in the French courts and English high-society. Most traditional New England squares are in this style. The quadrille (upon which today’s American quadrille style squares are based) was an 18th century French invention, but by the early 19th century these dances had swept both Europe and the Americas. The early quadrilles were five or six-part, carefully choreographed sequences danced in four couple square sets.

So take a look at Nils’ post for a short-n-sweet overview of square dance styles and be on the lookout for the full resources available at cdss.org in the near future.

On the Beat

— Max

Find other resources in the Advice & How-To area of our website.

Nils previously worked with caller Ralph Sweet to produce the wonderful book on singing squares, On the Beat with Ralph Sweet, available at our online store.