A Brief History of Square and Round Dancing
Veronica Anne McClure

Today's square and round dancing is a continuation of the social dance
history of western civilization.  This tradition has always emphasized
a group of dancers moving through space making large pattersn, with a
steady, rhythmical base supporting the melody of the music.  An early
form was a line of dancers who made circles, spirals, and
followed-the-leader.  The line could be divided for concentric
circles, lines, columns, ranks, or squares.  Individuals moved as a
group so that it could make these patterns Over and over, references
describe a group creating a basic shape, moving through other
formations, and returning to the starting shape, just as when we do
some calls and then promenade home.

Coinciding with these group dances are couple dances in which one of a
few couples separate from the group, dance for the group, and then
rejoin the group.  Both types are in Italian dance manuals of the 15th
and 16th centuries and appear to have been danced in all parts of
Europe.  In the 17th century (the Puritan era), there were many groups
using the name "English country dance."  However, the name may be
misleading as the dancing was also done in cities and by the upper
classes -- it was not "hayseed" or "bumpkin" at all.  In 1651, the
first book about this dancing, _The English Dancing Master_, was
published.  This was also the beginning of the Baroque style of
dance, which reached its greatest development in the French courts.
There is much surviving documentation about both and how they
influenced one another, especially in England and France.

Because the North American continent was colonized by Europeans,
especially the English and French, we inherited this dancing.  During
the Revolutionary period, the formation most popular was two lines
facing, then called "longways" and now "contra."  In the early 19th
century, the square ("quadrille," "lancers") became most popular.  All
through the 19th century it was a dominant force in the ballroom, and
a mainstay of the upper classes.

In the late 18th century, a folk dance became popular in upper class
ballrooms because of the same mindset that fueled the French and
American Revolutions and idealized "the common man."  It was the
waltz.  It was considered shocking not only because of its low-class
origin but because dancers turned their backs on the group and
concentrated on themselves.  Not only that, they turned around
together, creating the first "round dance" in the sense that we today
use the term.