Dos-a-dos - Accidents in Quadrille Dancing c. 1817

George Cruikshank made this hand-colored etching titled “Dos-a-dos - Accidents in Quadrille Dancing” sometime around 1817. It presents us with a window into the social world of the British Regency period. The print wryly comments on the rigid social expectations around courtship. We see a dance gone awry, bodies colliding as the band plays on, oblivious. Cruikshank uses the satirical lens to explore the awkwardness inherent in social rituals, especially between men and women. It also shows a period of history where strict class boundaries were starting to blur. The discomfort in the dance, the literal mis-steps, might point to anxieties about social mobility and changing norms. The artist seems to ask, what happens when the choreography of social life breaks down? The laughter and the mishaps suggest the humor and humanity that emerge when people stumble outside the prescribed steps.