Circassian Circle Part 1 Vers 1

The Circassian Circle appeared in the British ballroom in the 1820s from a concept of arranging a popular quadrille or country dance figure in a progressive Sicilian circle. It became very popular in several main forms and further versions evolved via the folk process in the villages of the British Isles. It was still very popular in Australia as a ballroom dance in the early decades of the 20th C enjoying a place on programmes up till the 1930s as part of the Old Time Dance revival. Any references to Circassian Circle up until then relate to these forms, part 2 did not exist till introduced through British folk dance revivals and the Australian ‘bush dance’ movement of the 1960s and 70s; ‘part 1’ was then used to distinguish the original progressive Sicilian style.
Thus the version commencing with the ‘right & left’ movement has been taken from figure 1 of ‘The Quadrille’ or ‘First Set’ and the version with the ‘hands across & back again’ (right & left star) is from figure 1 of the Caledonians Quadrille.
Lovenberry’s MC Manual of the Ithaca School of Dancing in Brisbane 1884 lists nine different versions of Circassian Circle of which No. V is a particularly good version incorporating both figure 1 of the Caledonians Quadrille and Galop forward and back around the circle followed by a half ladies’ chain for the progression. This has been shown as version 3.
Other Circassian Circles described have adapted country dance figures such as from the Spanish Waltz into what is now known as the Waltz Country Dance, and the British folk dance ‘Cottages’ can be linked to a Circassian Circle arrangement from figure 4 of the Lancers, whilst the American version of the Soldier’s Joy is a Circassian Circle adaptation from an earlier Country Dance by that name.
Circassian Circle part 2 was not known by that name in Australia till the 70s bush dance revival, but was known under the name of Stockyards or Bull Ring as a final figure of the Quadrille (First Set).
Video footage by dancers and friends of Bush Dance & Music Club of Bendigo, directed by Peter Ellis at Sedgwick, Victoria Australia, October 2014.