I had these responses from trad-dance-callers@yahoogroups.com

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Otto Warteman:

I had an exhibition group from 1975-1998 and we did it with 32 dancers, but with 8 steps and turn and alternating couples turning.

You can have like spokes of a wheel four couples deep where all the heads are facing the center or as alternating couples face their partner.

You can also do four different contras at the same time where to number one couple is the furthest out from the center.

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Jim Saxe:

There's a dance by Ted Sannella called "Ted's Double Quadrille No. 1" (or "... #1") that includes a different (and, I think, simpler) version of grand square for sixteen dancers than the one in the video John cited.  The starting formation is a square with two couples side-by-side on each side of (as in Rod's Quads) and the action is simply for each couple to act the part of an individual in a normal eight-person grand square.  If I recall correctly, when I danced to Ted's calling at Augusta Dance Week in 1985, he had partners put our near arms around each other's backs as in a star promenade, but it might also be done with partners simply holding near hands.

Side couples begin by facing up or down the hall toward the other side couple in their foursome and backing away, while heads begin by dancing forward towards the opposite head couple.  On the fourth beat each couple, turns as a unit 90 degrees to face across the square.  On the next four beats, the original heads back out toward the side spots, while the original sides advance toward the head spots, all couples turning on the last beat to face uo and down.  Etc.

A spreadsheet index of Ted's dances linked from

http://davidsmukler.syracusecountrydancers.org/ted-sannella-index/

lists the date of composition as 1965.

--Jim

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                   John                                  

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574                         

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