Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A staged couples dance of eight performers in one of three styles, Camp, Contra or Ballroom, judged on figures, dancing to the beat, movements and steps, uniformity and stance, with recorded music throughout.

Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille is the seventy-ninth entry on the Jamaican national performing arts festival template and the twelfth of the seventeen items in its Traditional Folk Forms discipline. It is the odd one out in that group: where Kumina, Revival and Burru are African-rooted rituals danced to live drums, the quadrille is a couple dance of European origin that Jamaican communities took over and made their own, and it is performed to recorded music.

The festival handbook describes it as a couple dance for men and women, with one gender never standing in for the other. Eight dancers, four couples, take the floor in a set, and the handbook recognises three styles. Camp Style is the Afro-Jamaican version: two couples stand in a line facing two couples opposite, the figures may call the women to move first and then the men, and the fifth figure is the only one danced to a mento tune. Contra Style uses a squared set but moves more like a country dance and is danced to mento music from the first note to the last. Ballroom Style keeps the formal four-cardinal-point square, with the head couples performing each figure first and then the side couples, and asks for more elegance in dress and carriage.

Each figure ends with a wheel, and the piece leaves the stage with the vospiana, the closing quadrille tune, except in Contra Style, which exits to the same mento music used for the last figure. The handbook limits how much is shown: Class 1 performs one figure, Classes 2 to 7 perform two figures of the quadrille in any style, and groups that reach the national finals perform a single figure chosen by the judges. A school or community group may not repeat the same figure it danced the year before.

Organisers run it because it is one of the most recognisable heritage dances in the country, it is easy to compare across entries, and it rewards neat teamwork rather than individual display. Because the three styles share one catalogue entry, the person setting up a round should record which style each team has chosen before the first set takes the floor.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille is run

On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Jamaican national performing arts festival template, where it is a Traditional Folk Forms category assigned to all seven classes, Class 1 (ages 3 to 6) up to Class 6 (adults) plus the combined Class 7. The handbook table lists all three quadrille styles for Classes 1 to 7. The festival runs in three stages, parish auditions, parish finals and national finals, and only the top gold-medal group per class and category in a parish moves on. The handbook notes that figures vary from one parish to another in Camp Style, so the version a team dances is the one its home parish teaches.

• Jamaica (the national performing arts festival the template is built from)

Key facts

• Team entry of eight dancers (four couples), men and women together, in English; assigned on the template to Classes 1 to 6 and the combined Class 7, with no class bar in the handbook
• Three styles share the one entry: Camp Style, Contra Style and Ballroom Style. The template cannot tell them apart, so record the chosen style in the entry notes
• The template records a four-minute window with the warning bell at three minutes, scored out of 100. The handbook table gives four minutes for Camp Style and five minutes each for Contra and Ballroom, while its explanatory notes give four minutes for all three, so confirm the limit with the organiser before the first round
• Figures shown: one for Class 1, two for Classes 2 to 7, and a single figure chosen by the judges at the national finals; every figure ends with a wheel and the piece exits with the vospiana (Contra Style exits to mento music)
• Recorded music is used for Quadrille and Maypole, whereas the other folk forms need live musicians
• Ideas, not rules, for a staged piece: rehearse the wheel at the end of each figure until all four couples land on the same beat, mark the set positions on the floor so the square holds, and plan the vospiana exit so the couples leave in order. Check each choice against the rules and the organiser before rehearsing it

On eTalenter, Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 4 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille

What a Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• The handbook gives all three quadrille styles one marking table with eight headings worth 100 at parish auditions, 100 at parish finals and 50 at the national finals. The points below follow that table and are a summary, not a quotation of the rule
• Figures (20, 15 and 8 of 50) and dancing to time and beat (20, 20 and 8) carry the most. The panel checks that the figure is the right one for the style, performed in the right order, and that all eight dancers land every step on the beat of the recorded tune
• Movements and steps (10, 15 and 8) and dance stance (10, 10 and 4): the vocabulary of the step, the carriage of the upper body and the way the wheel is closed. A stiff, flat-footed walk through the pattern loses marks here
• Uniformity and style (10, 10 and 5) and stage and projection (10, 10 and 6): four couples who move as one set, hold the square or line, and play to the audience rather than to each other
• Costuming (5, 10 and 5) and presentation (15, 10 and 6): clothing in keeping with the style, with Ballroom Style expected to look more elegant than Camp, and a clean entrance and exit. The handbook warns that excessive or exaggerated movements not in keeping with the form lose presentation marks

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille under Scoring Setup, or start from the full folk dance judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille

How entrants and their teachers usually get Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille right on the day:

• Pick the style first and learn its rules: Camp Style for the lively Afro-Jamaican version, Contra Style if the team is happier with the country-dance patterns, Ballroom Style for a formal square. Do not mix their figures
• Check the figure rule for the class: Class 1 shows one figure, Classes 2 to 7 show two, and nobody may repeat last year’s figure. Keep a record of what the team danced before
• Teach the set before the steps. Put tape marks on the floor for the four couples and rehearse moving between them with the music off, then add the beat
• Count the wheel. Every figure must end with one, and it is where an unsynchronised group is most obvious, so give it a separate drill with a caller
• Rehearse the exit as seriously as the opening. The vospiana is part of the performance in Camp and Ballroom Style, and Contra Style leaves to its final mento tune; a messy exit costs presentation marks
• Dress the team to the style and test the costume while dancing, since long skirts and hats that move badly can break the lines. Keep to the handbook rule that tights and leotards are not allowed as costume
• After the result, ask for the adjudicator comments and find which heading lost marks. If figures or beat were low, drill the pattern with a metronome; if stance was low, rehearse in front of a mirror

Frequently asked questions

Is Traditional Folk Forms – Quadrille judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Team entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

What is the Quadrille in a folk forms competition?

It is a staged couple dance of European origin, performed by eight dancers (four couples) in one of three styles, Camp, Contra or Ballroom, to recorded music, with each figure ending in a wheel.

How long is a Quadrille entry?

The handbook gives four minutes for Camp Style and five minutes each for Contra and Ballroom Style in its table, but four minutes for all three in its notes. The template records four minutes with a warning at three, so confirm the limit with the organiser.

How many figures do we have to dance?

Class 1 dances one figure with the vospiana exit. Classes 2 to 7 dance two figures, and teams that reach the national finals dance one figure chosen by the judges.

Does the Quadrille use live musicians?

No. The handbook says the music for Quadrille and Maypole is recorded, while the other traditional dances need live music. Contra Style is danced to mento music throughout.

Can girls dance the boys’ parts?

No. The handbook says one gender should not be substituted for another, so the set should be made of real couples.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full folk dance judging criteria guide, or browse every on stage competition item.