Call Quadrille
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Practitioners and people who know the tradition well
Call quadrille (huutokatrilli) is a form of dance based on collective dancing, performed with a partner according to instructions given aloud by a “caller” (fin. huutaja) to continuous, usually accelerating music. Dancers do not need to know call quadrille in advance in order to take part. The caller leads the dance in real time so that dozens or even hundreds of people can dance simultaneously in line formations, using a walking-based step.
A continuous call quadrille and musical performance can last up to half an hour, gradually accelerating from a relaxed walking tempo to a vigorous half-run. Playing a long, accelerating call quadrille requires in-depth knowledge of folk music. At its simplest, a call quadrille can be a collective dance the length of a single tune, in which the dance sequences are called out in a surprising order.
Call quadrille is most often danced by folk dancers, both amateurs and professionals, but also by anyone who encounters call quadrille at various events and dares to step onto the dance floor. Anyone with sufficient musical skills and knowledge of quadrille tunes can take part in playing call quadrille but it is most commonly performed by folk music enthusiasts and professional folk musicians.
Call quadrille is danced at festivals, public events, and celebrations, both open and private. Public call quadrilles are organised, for example, at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, which was also the original setting for the first public call quadrille events. The Kaustinen Yökatrilli (Night Quadrille) attracts between 500 and 1,000 participants each year.
Call quadrille can also be danced at many other folk music and folk dance festivals, such as Folklandia, Pispala Schottische International Folklore Festival, Puistokarkelot, Kaukas EloFolk, and Kalenat. It is also danced at events of other musical genres, such as OstariFestari in Oulu. Birthdays, weddings, and family celebrations are typical private occasions where call quadrille is danced.
Call quadrille is also part of the programme at various courses, such as Murikka folk music and folk dance courses. Informal folk partner dance and dance-music jam sessions often include call quadrille. It is frequently danced at celebrations organised by folk dance associations and umbrella organisations, such as the yearly folk dance event Kevätpäivät and Karelian summer events organised by the Karelian Youth League. Call quadrille has also been danced in public spaces across Finland on the Day of Folk Music and Folk Dance, celebrated on the Saturday following Mother’s Day.
In Finland, call quadrille is practised as a living and evolving form of social interaction. The scale of a call quadrille can range from four dancers to a thousand, functioning according to the same principles regardless of the number of participants. At a wedding, call quadrille may be danced by a small group, while at festivals it can involve hundreds of dancers.
Notably, call quadrille is not sustained by institutions but spreads organically from person to person. However, it is also taught within professional education programmes, such as the folk music programme at the Sibelius Academy and the dance teacher education programme at Oulu University of Applied Sciences.
Each year, new people join in and become enthusiastic about call quadrille. The dance sequences are taught in an accessible way, with a low threshold for participation. It is often emphasised that no prior folk dance skills are required and that it is easy to join in among experienced dancers. Beginners describe call quadrille as fun and liberating. Nervousness tends to fade as participants focus on doing things together and following the caller’s instructions. The call quadrille experience is described as lively, joyful, euphoric, sweaty, chaotic, liberating, and bubbling with shared happiness.
Practising of the tradition
Call quadrille is usually a planned programme item, for which the organiser ensures a suitable space and the presence of a caller, dancers, and musicians, or alternatively recorded music played through a sound system. It can also be danced outdoors. Within an event programme, call quadrille often serves as an icebreaker, a mood builder, or the evening’s climax. It can also arise spontaneously.
The person leading the call quadrille may be called a caller, leader, instructor, or facilitator. The caller is familiar with the standard components and sequences of quadrilles, which are combined to create a call quadrille. Many people confidently teach call quadrille to others after gaining personal experience of it.
Call quadrille can be played on traditional folk instruments such as the fiddle, accordion, harmonium, clarinet, guitar, mandolin, and double bass. The tunes are usually selected in advance and must be well rehearsed in order to keep pace with the accelerating tempo. Tunes played in 4/4 time proceed from slow to fast, forming a continuous medley of approximately 10–30 minutes. Walking-tempo tunes often have rich melodic variation, while the final tunes, which are more minimal melodically, are played at a very fast tempo. Playing through a full call quadrille is often compared to an athletic performance due to its physical and technical demands. Before the call quadrille begins, the caller arranges dancers into opposing lines and facing pairs, taking spatial requirements into account. When there are many participants, helpers may be needed for this. Demonstration pairs can assist during teaching. Sequences can be practised using verbal counting or slow music, with musicians accompanying the teaching phase. If the participants are experienced, the teaching phase may be omitted altogether.
Learning call quadrille starts with sequences for two opposing pairs. The steps used are typically walking steps and karjalainen puolijuoksu, a half-running step characteristic to Karelian folk dances. The overall style is low, gliding close to the floor, and following the musical pulse. The most common sequences include vastuu (advancing and retreating), paikanvaihto (changes of place), and paripyörintä (couple turns), which serve as basic elements. More advanced sequences include portti (“gates”), läpikäynti (passing through), karkelot (“celebration”), and risti (“cross”). For eight pairs, large circles are typical. Improvisation-based solos and Karelian maanitus dances may also be included. Sequences can be explored through the Tanssinriemu website or folk dance guides. Basic sequences are sometimes supplemented with customised new ones. Inventing one’s own sequences can make the experience more personal for example for children.
Once the figures are learned, the call quadrille begins with musical accompaniment as the caller selects and calls out sequences in real time. Proper timing and audibility of the calls are essential. Call quadrille resembles a game that lives and organises itself within the moment. Dancers are encouraged not to anticipate or assume what comes next. A distinctive feature is collective presence and shared attentiveness. Chance plays a strong role, and dance partners may be new acquaintances. There is no fixed choreography; instead, patterns interweave and unfold, often unexpectedly. Typically, the musical tempo accelerates as dancers grow familiar with the sequences. As the music intensifies, call quadrille often culminates in a large circle, chain dance, or a “log” formation, where the chain twists around its other end. sometimes ending with acknowledgements to the musicians. A fairly established practice is to conclude with traditional partner dances after the quadrille, often a waltz.
In principle, any music with a suitable tempo and metre for each phase of the quadrille can be used for call quadrille. However, there are established tunes and medleys specifically associated with accompanied call quadrille. These can be found in published collections such as Vanhoja pelimannisävelmiä (e.g. Ruotsinkatrillit, Prins Oskar, Karjalan yleiskatrilli) and Tanhuvakka (e.g. Kapusta, Tsuiluikka, Katrilli Uhtualta).
The band JPP, which accompanied the first call quadrille events, has recorded one call quadrille album. This recording is often used when call quadrille is danced to recorded music. Many experienced callers have also compiled their own lists of suitable recordings. Some artists, such as Junna and DJPJP, have produced call quadrille tracks in which the called sequences are integrated directly into the music.
Several variations of call quadrille have been developed. In solo call quadrille, used especially in the FolkJam dance fitness format, no partner is required, although each dancer faces another dancer on the opposite line in a pass formation. Fully free-form solo call quadrille has been implemented, for example, in the Iltavilli sessions of the Raakaa tradia group (“mosh pit quadrille”).
Calling-based dance formats have also been developed from other folk dances. Polska-rueda combines couple polska dancing with pair-based salsa rueda danced in a circle. In events organised by Finlands Svenska Folkdansringen, the minuet serves a similar purpose and effect as call quadrille, and it is danced during the Menuettien yö (“Night of Minuets”) at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival.
The background and history of the tradition
In recent decades, call quadrille has become a popular way to dance quadrille-type dances as a form of social dancing. Historically, quadrilles belong to the contra dance family and arrived in Finland in the late 18th century. Quadrilles are danced in square, line, and circle formations. In Finland, the square formation became the most common among the general population.
Call quadrille is also closely connected to the Square Dance tradition, which combines 18th- and 19th-century English country dances, French quadrilles and cotillions, and various folk dances. In this tradition, dances may be either pre-choreographed or guided in real time by a caller. Call quadrille clearly belongs to the latter approach. In many dance cultures, dancers have been prompted or reminded of upcoming figures through musical or verbal cues.
In Finland, the emergence of call quadrille in the 1970s and 1980s coincided with a conscious revival of dance forms that had almost disappeared or survived only in isolated examples. These included song dances, polskas, and quadrilles. In those years, a course week focusing on folk dance and folk music was traditionally organised just before the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. These courses were organised by the Ala Könni Institute, and course participants performed what they had learned on the opening day of the festival. In 1982, a quadrille-themed course was led by Pirkko Liisa Rausmaa, Antti Savilampi, Heikki Laitinen, Erkki Ala Könni, and Mauno Järvelä.
The primary aim of the 1982 quadrille course was to restore quadrille dancing as a living social practice rather than merely a performance genre. The course explored the movement worlds of figure dances and identified similarities and differences between western and eastern Finnish musical traditions. The first social dance event explicitly called a call quadrille took place in Kaustinen in 1982, led by Antti Savilampi. It was met with enthusiastic curiosity, and participants asked for a continuation, which was later named Yökatrilli (“the Night Quadrille”). Master folk dancer Antti Savilampi led the Yökatrilli at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival for a total of 36 years. In summer 2018, Oulu-based dance artist Petri Kauppinen succeeded Savilampi. The music for the Yökatrilli has always been provided by the Kaustinen-based band JPP. During the 1982 quadrille course, JPP compiled suitable tunes for quadrille accompaniment from various sources, including Ilmari Krohn’s Vanhoja pelimannisävelmiä, the Tanhuvakka collection, and Erik Ulrik Spoof’s notebooks. According to Timo Alakotila and Arto Järvelä, the tunes selected for the first call quadrille events emerged directly from this accompaniment work, once they were found suitable for dancing. After the course, the resulting quadrille medley was recorded and released on the cassette Katrillia ja Polskaa. Over the years, additional tunes—including JPP’s own compositions—were added as the Yökatrilli became a fixed annual programme item and its duration increased. One version of the medley was later recorded on the Call quadrille! album published by the Finnish Folk Music Institute. Even today, the Kaustinen Yökatrilli medley is not entirely fixed and continues to be adapted as needed.
The practice of accelerating tempo as the call quadrille progressed was established already during the 1982 course. This influenced tune selection: richly melodic Swedish quadrilles and other western Finnish quadrilles were played at the beginning, while Karelian quadrille tunes were introduced as the tempo increased. This approach sparked critical discussion during the first course about mixing western and Karelian step patterns and melodies. However, it proved natural for the dance as a whole, and call quadrille ultimately became a meeting place for eastern and western elements. This cultural interaction is also reflected in the fact that call quadrille in Finland has always been danced in opposing lines rather than square formations. Possible reasons include eastern quadrille influences, clarity of the dance form, ease of calling, and suitability for live social dance situations.
In addition to JPP’s medley, other known quadrille medleys include those compiled by Petri Prauda, used among students of the Sibelius Academy’s folk music programme and at Perinnearkku folk music association events, as well as a medley compiled by Osmo Hakosalo and Jouko Pääkkönen of the Oulu-based band Rällä, which is also used by the Northern Ostrobothnia Folk Music Association. Many of these medleys resemble the original JPP medleys, progressing from western Finnish to Karelian or Karelian-style tunes. New compositions are also included.
The transmission of the tradition
The tradition is transmitted between generations and communities through dancing and playing together. It is passed on at festivals, courses, dance and music events, and private gatherings. Call quadrille is a concept that has developed gradually over time, through more or less conscious practice. The event has a clear and descriptive name that is widely recognised. The name call quadrille aptly describes the caller’s role in calling out dance sequences.
Call quadrille dance pedagogy is taught and developed in dance teacher education at Oulu University of Applied Sciences. Playing call quadrille is taught and developed in folk music education at the Sibelius Academy and other relevant programmes. Call quadrille is also used in the education of music teachers, both in degree studies as part of music and movement modules and in continuing professional development.
The vitality of the tradition is supported by the growing popularity of social folk dancing. In various folk partner dance contexts, it feels natural to include call quadrille. The format is often experienced as joyful, inviting, and easy to adopt, encouraging participants to pass the experience on in future communal gatherings.
Vitality is also enhanced by the interaction between music and dance characteristic of folk traditions. Musicians “play” with melodies, tempos, and structures to create a musical entity suited to the moment. The caller, as part of the band, acts almost like a soloist, verbalising the dance and keeping dancers within the musical flow. A potential threat to the vitality of call quadrille is the limited accessibility of existing knowledge about the tradition. No high-quality instructional video has been produced, and there is no well-documented recording of a long call quadrille event.
In terms of musical accompaniment, a challenge for amateur musicians may be the lack of a sufficiently extensive quadrille repertoire to play an entire call quadrille. There is no dedicated published scorebook, and assembling functioning medleys requires experience. Musicians’ skill levels influence tune selection, as many quadrille tunes are complex or fast. On the other hand, many evenly structured traditional tunes with eight- or sixteen-bar phrases—such as marches, polkas, humppa tunes, and jouhikko melodies—are also suitable.
When working with recorded music, a challenge is finding suitable tracks. Call quadrille performances are long, and few recorded pieces are long enough on their own. JPP’s Call quadrille! album is the only recording made specifically for this purpose, and it is currently difficult to access. Playing standard quadrille tracks back-to-back often creates unnecessary pauses between tracks.
Call quadrille also requires a caller. The skills required depend on the nature of the event and the number of participants. Leading call quadrille in a private setting differs greatly from guiding large crowds at festivals.
Documenting of the tradition
Call quadrille has been documented in connection with the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival’s Yökatrilli in the archives of the Finnish Folk Music Institute through photographs, videos, and audio recordings. Otherwise, it has not been extensively archived, apart from publications in which call quadrille is discussed.
Communities practising the tradition have documented related materials in publications, online content, and image archives. Systematic documentation has not been carried out. As the tradition is not managed or maintained by any single body, oral knowledge plays a significant role. It is therefore important to record this knowledge and to interview practitioners of the tradition.
Sustainable development
Like dance and music more broadly, call quadrille is intangible cultural heritage and does not require special facilities or resources; it can be practised anywhere. Practitioners describe dancing and playing call quadrille at camps, weddings, community halls, school breaks, corridors, parks, confirmation camps, farmyards, post-doctoral dinners, seminars, workplace parties, university entrance exams, children’s clubs, housing cooperative’s spring clean-up “talkoot”, charity events, gala events, Kalevala Day celebrations, parties, pedestrian streets, workplaces, petrol stations—anywhere joy is at its peak. Call quadrille is largely based on walking skills and is considered a low-threshold dance format, although even a low threshold can be a barrier for some. It would be valuable for the call quadrille community to continue developing more inclusive ways of practising the tradition. Call quadrille has become a highly popular form of social dancing and works well within folk partner dance and dance-music contexts. It offers a communal experience that is often accessible even to beginners.
A key attraction of call quadrille is that the event is created collectively. The caller is an active participant and may dance alongside others as a peer. In group-based practices, it is important to consider the impact of social pressure. Clearly articulating participation rules helps create a safer space—for example, clarifying whether it is acceptable to leave the dance partway through.
Call quadrille involves physical contact with partners and other dancers. Different dance holds, gates, and circles allow for safe forms of touch. Etiquette, rules, and roles between leading and following should be agreed in advance. Dancing in contact is particularly meaningful in an era marked by digital overload.
Today, practising the tradition also involves cultural sensitivity. The mixing of eastern and western traditions within call quadrille provides fertile ground for observing and acknowledging dance and musical differences. In education, it is important to explore the diverse cultural roots of quadrilles across dance and language traditions. For example, a book on Skolt Sámi quadrille traditions was published in 2022.
In the past, call quadrille used gendered terminology derived from archival sources, such as “girls and boys” or “men and women”. This has largely been replaced by alternative terms such as “leaders and followers”, “ones and twos”, or other flexible concepts. The change reflects practitioners’ desire to keep the tradition open to all genders without gender-based role expectations. Some callers still use older terminology, either out of habit or to maintain a connection to historical contexts. In such cases, the choice is consciously agreed upon with participants.
The future of the tradition
In the future, call quadrille is likely to spread in new directions. Its dissemination is supported by its immersive nature as a live, real-world interaction. Participants collectively engage in a unique, unrepeatable event created in the moment. No two call quadrille events are identical, even when the same elements are used.
Call quadrille exists in the present and transforms according to time, place, number of participants, dancers’ experience, and other variables. In recent years, the popularity of the Kaustinen Yökatrilli has required the development of less space-intensive sequences to accommodate everyone. Callers often invent entirely new sequences on the spot, and the most effective ones may become established.
The low-threshold nature of call quadrille is widely recognised. In the future, it may become more common in education and school celebrations. Leading call quadrille requires skills that can be learned independently and freely passed on. For many people, call quadrille is their first encounter with Finnish folk dance and folk music. It is a significant way to raise awareness of cultural heritage among new audiences and foster a sense of shared ownership. Call quadrille has been practised since the 1980s, and over time new questions have emerged. The tradition is evolving in a more open direction, with practitioners seeking ways to express diversity. In folk dance more broadly, there has been a move away from binary terminology. Sequences formerly named according to gendered roles are now more commonly referred to by other terms. Although unified solutions have been sought, no single standard has emerged. While “leader” and “follower” are the most commonly used terms, they do not fully capture the logic of quadrille dancing, which combines partner and group dance elements.
For now, call quadrille pedagogy and practices are developed by various practitioners without a formal organisational structure. In the United States, for example, Callerlab (the International Association of Square Dance Callers) provides training, maintains caller directories, and publishes articles. A similar type of structure could help support and further develop the vitality of call quadrille as a living tradition.
The community/communities behind this submission
Pro Kaustinen ry / Kaustinen Folk Music Festival
JPP
Höyhtyän kulttuuriyhdistys ry / OstariFestari
Folk music education at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
Dance teacher education at Oulu University of Applied Sciences
Kansanmusiikin ja Kansantanssin Edistämiskeskus ry
Suomen Kansantanssi-instituutin puolesta ry
Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto ry
Suomalaisen Kansantanssin Ystävät ry
Kansantanssijamikollektiivi Kataja ry
Bibliography and links to external sources of information
Videos
KaustinenFMF. 2023. “Yhteisötanssin hurmaa: Yökatrilli 2023”, 15.7.2023, KaustinenFMF. YouTube, 2:29.
Ostari Festari. 2023. “OstariFestari III After Movie.”, 24.3.2023, Ostari Festari. YouTube, 2:49.
Suomen Nuorisoseurat. 2015. “Folklandia 2015: Keskiyön huutokatrilli”12.1.2015, Suomen Nuorisoseurat. YouTube, 1:42.
Yle Areena. 2020. “Etnogaala 2020”, 9.1.2020, Yle Areena. 3 h, 57 min., 23 sek.
Online
Nuorisoseurat. 2023. “Huutokatrilli soolona tai pareina”. Leikin riemu - Nuorisoseurojen leikki- ja harjoitepankki. 24.3.2023.
Nuorisoseurat. 2020. “Huutokatrilli”. Tanssinriemu.fi. 10.3.2020.
Rytinki, Pasi. 2024. “Höyhtyän ostarifestari saa sisartapahtuman osana Oulu2026-ohjelmaa - yleisö voi ehdottaa paikkaa." Mun Oulu. 26.4.2024.
Suomalaisen kansantanssin ystävät. Katrilli - Historia. Hakupäivä: 12.3.2026.
Literature
Asplund, Anneli; Hoppu, Petri; Laitinen, Heikki; Leisiö, Timo; Saha, Hannu ja Westerholm, Simo. 2006. Kansanmusiikki. Suomen musiikin historia. Helsinki: WSOY.
Hoppu, Petri. 2007. “Nya riktningar i det finska Finland.” Teoksessa Norden i dans: Folk - fag - forskning, toim. Egil Bakka & Gunnel Biskop. Oslo: Novus, 571–574.
Juntunen, Marja-Leena; Perkiö, Soili ja Simola-Isaksson, Inkeri. 2010. Musiikkia tanssien. Helsinki : WSOYpro
Malmi, Viola. 1982. Karjalaisia kansantansseja. Suomalaisen kansantanssin ystävät.
Malmi, Viola. 1993. Karjalaisen kansantanssin lähteillä. Sivistysliitto Kansalaisfoorumi.
Malmi, Viola. 2005. Elämäni tanssi: Karjalaisen kansantanssin arkea ja juhlaa. Toim. Antti Koiranen ja Hannu Tommola. Tampereen yliopisto.
Mäkelä, Sinikka; Päivärinta, Heikki; Salonen, Ilpo ; Laaksonen, Liisa. 1990. Tanhuaskelikot: ohjaajan opas. Helsinki: Suomen kansantanssinuorten liitto.
Rausmaa, Esko. 2000. Katrillia tanssimaan : valikoima suomalaisia ja naapurimaiden katrilleja. Kansanmusiikin keskusliitto.
Savilampi, Antti. Minun matkani - minun tarinani. 2022. Teoksessa Tanssikavalkadi - näkemyksiä kansantanssikulttuurista (toim. Riitta Korhonen ja Esa Vilhonen). Kansanmusiikki-instituutti 114.
Saxholm, Sari; Moshnikoff, Minna; Gauriloff, Mari. 2022. Sevettijärven kolttakatrilli - Če’vetjääu’r ka’dre’l. Sari Saxholm.
Articles
Keskipohjanmaa. 2022. “Perjantain vastaisena yönä Kaustisella pääsi yökatrillin tunnelmaan – "Tanssitaan rauhalle", patisti koreografi Petri Kauppinen, Katso videolta miten rinne ja Areena karkeloi.“ Keskipohjanmaa 14.7.2022, klo 19:00.
Poranen, Katariina. 2018. “Huutokatrilli on Kaustisen yön huipennus - Mestarikansantanssija Antti Savilampi veti viime yönä viimeisen hurmoksellisen huutokatrillinsa.” Keskipohjanmaa, 13.7.2018.
Saarelainen, Maarit. 2025. “Folklandia on aina tunnemyrsky, vaikka laiva lipuisi tasaisestikin – kaksi päivää tanssiaskelin MS Baltic Princessillä.“ Kulttuuritoimitus 19.1.2025.
Timonen, Sofia. 2024. “Oulun ostarifestarin hitti on huutokatrilli.” Kansanmusiikki, 2/2024.
Published recordings
JPP. 2001. Huutokatrilli! Kansanmusiikki-instituutti. KICD 75
Mauno Järvelä pelimanneineen. 1982. Katrillia ja polskaa -kasetti. Kansanmusiikki-instituutti. Kansanmusiikki-instituutti KIOC1