Paine's 4th Set of Quadrilles: Part 3 La Poule

Hi everyone,

Today I'll be looking at the 3rd figure of Paine's 4th Set of Quadrilles: La Poule! Once again, I will work on giving a detailed breakdown of the figures to make it easier to practice. Here is an image of the original figures.

3rd Figure: La Poule

A: Honours (8 bars).

B: 1st woman and 3rd man Traversé with the right hand (or, cross over - 4 bars); de-traversé with the left hand (4 bars).

• 1st woman and 3rd man cross the set touching right hands as you pass (3 skip changes + jeté assemblé). In the video of the dance group from the Netherlands, they do a high five!
• 1st woman and 3rd man return, this time taking left hands with each other, and right hands with PARTNER to form a line for 4 (3 skip changes + jeté assemblé). The partners on the outside of the line face opposite directions to their partner. See top image of the plate below:

A: Demi-balance twice (4 bars); demi-promenade (4 bars).

• All take hands in a line for 4 and set twice to your partner (always going to the right first - this means that the middle arms between 1st woman and 3rd man will be extended as each person sets right to their partner; then the arms between the partners will be extended as each person sets left.
• The dancers on the outside ends of the line (1^st man and 3^rd woman) turn into the set to face the same way as their partners and take promenade/skater’s hold (the 1^st woman and 3^rd man on the inside of the line DO NOT turn).
• The head couples promenade halfway to the other side of the set (3 skip changes + jeté assemblé). The couple in which the man was active (3^rd man) will promenade in a semi-circular track to the opposite side. BUT, the couple in which the lady was active initially (1^st lady), will do a different promenade – when 1^st couple reaches the other side of the set, they will turn in towards each other (keeping hands) to face into the set.

C: 1st woman and 3rd man En avant et en Arriere (advance and retire – 4 bars); Dos-à-dos (4 bars).

• 1^st woman and 3^rd man advance (1 skip change + jeté assemblé) and retire (1 skip change + jeté assemblé).
• 1^st woman and 3^rd man do a back-to back. I would recommend starting this on the left foot (1 skip change forward on the left foot, 1 step to the side, 1 skip change back + jeté assemblé).

** The figure in La Poule is similar to this image, but only 1st woman and 3rd man do the back-to-back, rather than both couples illustrated here.

A: Head couples (1st and 3rd) En avant et en Arriere (or, advance and retire – 4 bars) ; demi-Chaine Anglaise (or, 2 changes of rights and lefts – 4 bars).

• Head couples take inside hands and advance (1 skip change + jeté assemblé) and retire (1 skip change + jeté assemblé). I think of the C & A parts as: I advance with the opposite person, then do a back-to-back, and finally pick up my partner.
• Head couples do 2 changes of rights and lefts back to place (2 skip changes with the right hand to cross the set, 1 skip change + jeté assemblé with the left hand).

** The chaine anglaise in La Poule only consists of 2 changes to get halfway, not the 4 changes pictured here, but the motion is the same.

Repeat for the other pairs of dancers (ie. 2^nd woman/4^th man; 3^rd woman/1^st man; 4^th woman/2^nd man). 

Remember, you have not finished dancing when you have danced your part (as active woman or man), as you will form the line for 4 etc. when your partner is active.

The 3rd figure of Paine's 1st and 4th Sets are the same, so if you watch this video of the , this may help to illuminate the movements.

** La Poule starts at 3:35.

Here is the Quadrille Club from England performing Paine's 1st Set as well.

** La Poule starts at 3:46.

That's all for now - until next time... Happy dancing!