G'day Les,

Sorry to be acronimically cryptic. EFDSS stands for the English Folk Song & Dance Society and they have been there (Cecil Sharp - or C# - House, in London) for ever. The pioneer modern collectors of British folk song mostly worked with the EFDSS and there are many different subgroups concerned with both song and dance.

In the postwar period their style of dancing flirted with the schools' curricula and their Community Dance Manuals were holy writ to a whole generation of physical education teachers. I certainly learnt dance from this source in Australia as a promary school student. These were mostly the simple group dances, in lines and circles and without too much of potentially stimulating contact, as in couples dances.

The 'Lancers' was one of the first of the Quadrilles ... highly structured dances for four couple facing each other in a square set. Quadrilles were made up of a number of parts, mini-dances within the greater whole and each couple would do a specified set of steps, repeated in turn by the next couple then that section of music finished and a the next part began.

Experienced (read obsessive?) dancers love the qudrilles for their variety, complexity and grace. there has been a great revival of interest in all the range of quadrilles among Aussie dancers. The Caledonian (Scots) have always clung to their specific version of The Lancers ... at our colonial balls, they just form a set among themselves and do their thing. The Lancers was also something of an identifying feature of English Home Counties house parties of the inter-war (WWI - WWII) period.

The name 'Lancers' suggests the origin of the quadrille, from the Spanish 'cuadrilla' (or Italian 'quadriglia') a troop (squad) or company. The dance is supposed to suggest the cavaly practices in which four mounted cavalry men trained their horses to fight the enemy's mount while they fought the man. The Spanish Riding School, in Vienna (?), where the great white Lippizaner horses 'dance' is a relic of the same traditions.

The great fad for quadrilles was the mid 19th century and 'The Lancers' seems to be the most durable survival and is often the shorthand (shortspeak?) for the whole group. At the height of its popularity, there were endless sets of music published but the 'bush' musician made do with whatever familiar tunes could be squeezed into the currently popular dance times.

The form of the quadrille was appropriated when Calvinistic churches of middle America banned sinful dancing. The kids came up with 'calling games' ... no music, no couple hold, arranged in open squares with a caller giving directions. Eventually church authorities had to admit that this was dancing, but wasn't TOO sinful and it became 'Square Dancing'. I'm told similar "non-dances" still happen among the country Reform Lutherans in South Africa - a very similar religious tradition and environment.

Extra Note to Liam's Brother: G'day Dan,

I don't know why there is nothing of Wongawilli on Greg's Music World site ... Wongas have at least 2 CDs and a few cassette tapes. The best site for them is obviously their own "Australian Bush Music Wongawilli Style" (at http://wollongong.starway.net.au/~gsmurray/index.html#contents ). I thought I posted that address yesterday, but it has vanished from my reply. Perhaps I should not have put it into < brackets > or I should have added some arcane HTTP code to nail it into place!

Wongas are a great traditional band, even though Dave De Santi is a first generation Neapolitan/Australian. Their sources are from local Illawarra (country area, south of Sydney) musicians and singers and they don't sound like a 'plastic' folk band. Dave's mother-in-law is drummer with 'The Marshall Mount Merrymakers', a dance band that has been going for 60 years and built their own dance hall about 45 years ago, when the local school hall overflowed.

Regards

Bob Bolton