Les Lanciers
Encyclopedia
Les Lanciers is a Square
Square dance
Square dance is a folk dance with four couples arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, beginning with Couple 1 facing away from the music and going counter-clockwise until getting to Couple 4. Couples 1 and 3 are known as the head couples, while Couples 2 and 4 are the side couples...

, or a Quadrille
Quadrille
Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...

, which is the pan-European term for a set dance performed by four couples. It is a composite dance made up of five figures or tours, each performed four times so that all couples will dance the lead part. We find Les Lanciers or The Lancers in many variants in several countries. One in particular, with its own distinctive music and choreography, is danced only in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

.

Les Lanciers came to Denmark from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1860 and was soon known in the higher classes
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...

 in Copenhagen. New music was written, and the dance developed in a slow evolution during 50 years until it found its current and canonised form before the 1st World War. The dance which started in the bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

 of Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

spread out through dancing schools in provincial towns and through the landed gentry until it was known and loved in the entire Danish society. Widespread though it was throughout Europe, Les Lanciers or The Lancers became less fashionable in the beginning of the century. It survived as a popular dance only in Denmark where it is now danced in an unbroken tradition of almost 140 years.

In Denmark, Les Lanciers is danced at Court, at any University and School Gaudy, and at countless private functions. Les Lanciers is also taught in most of the high schools in Denmark.

The five tours of the Danish dance are:
  • La Dorset
  • La Victoria
  • Les Moulinets
  • Les Visites
  • Les Lancers

The dances keep getting more advanced, topping at no. 5 which is performed with a timing that has to be extremely precise compared to any of the previous dances.
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