The Royal Polka Quadrille

Also known as The London Polka Quadrille. Created by Mr. T. Mason, London, in 1844. Reconstructed by Richard Powers. This is the very first polka quadrille. Only months after the polka was first seen in London, Mr. T. Mason introduced his concept of doing polka steps in a quadrille formation, to avoid “the confusion which has invariably occurred when a large number of persons have attempted to dance the Polka at the same time.“ Significantly, the second page of this music folio is a detailed full-page, 530-word explanation of the terms and figures used in the quadrille, referring to the color illustrations of the figures that decorated the cover of the music. In the following years, 1845 and 1846, this same choreography was published in New York as the “London Polka Quadrille,“ to different music by Glover. The figures were identical to the Royal Polka Quadrille, copied verbatim, but missing Mason’s complete explanation of the terminology and figures, w