M38 — Sweep a Quarter
Teaching unit M38 of the CALLERLAB (New) Mainstream Suggested Teaching Order, effective
1 September 2026. Prerequisites: Facing Couples,
Sweep a Quarter
At a glance
| Starting formation | Facing Couples only |
| Ending formation | Facing Couples |
| Timing | 2 beats |
| Unit | M38 of 50 |
Animation
▶ Play this call — pause, step and scrub it: Watching the animations.
Dance action
"Circle Right or Left 1/4 (page 23), except that each Couple does not join hands with the Couple
they are facing. The circling direction continues the motion that completed the previous call."
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
What you do
Sweep a Quarter is a suffix call: it has no meaning on its own and always follows another call.
- Finish the call that came before. As you finish, notice which way you are already moving around the center of the group — clockwise or counter-clockwise.
- Keep that same direction. Do not reverse.
- Both couples sweep one quarter turn (90 degrees) around the center, without joining hands with the other couple. You keep only your own couple handhold.
- Stop after a quarter turn. You are once again two couples facing each other.
It is a Circle Left or Circle Right of one quarter — but with the circle made by couples, not by joined hands all the way round.
Timing
2 beats — one quick quarter turn. It is usually attached to the end of the previous call with no gap at all.
Styling
"Dancers use a Couple handhold."
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
Hold your partner and move together. There is no eight-hand circle, so all the turning comes from you and your partner's two-handed grip.
Restrictions
The manual gives the starting formation as Facing Couples only, and it lists several places where the call is improper:
- After Chain Down the Line — the dancers who started in the center are not turning around the center of the new facing couples.
- After Bend the Line, Wheel Around, Cast Off 3/4, and similar calls, for the same reason.
- After Ferris Wheel (or Wheel and Deal from Lines Facing Out), plain "Sweep a Quarter" is improper, but "Centers Sweep a Quarter" is proper.
There is one exception made because of years of use: from a wave, "Recycle, Sweep a Quarter" is proper, even though some dancers finish Recycle with a turn in place.
Common faults
| What happens | Why | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| You turn the wrong way | Guessing instead of reading the previous call | The sweep continues the direction the last call left you moving |
| You reach for the other couple's hands | Thinking of it as a circle | No hands with the facing couple — only your partner |
| You sweep a half turn | Over-turning | A quarter turn is 90 degrees; you stop facing the other couple |
| You take a pause before starting | Treating it as a separate call | The sweep picks up the motion of the previous call with no break |
Where you meet it
Sweep a Quarter is bolted onto the end of calls that leave you in facing couples — most often Flutterwheel, as in "Flutterwheel and Sweep a Quarter". It also appears as "Centers Sweep a Quarter" after a Ferris Wheel. See the course overview for where this unit sits.
Related calls
- Flutterwheel — the call it most often follows. See M37.
- Circle Left/Right — the plain quarter circle it is built from. See M01.
- Ferris Wheel — after it, only "Centers Sweep a Quarter" is proper. See M40.
Also called / formerly
You will hear "Sweep One Quarter" and "Sweep a Quarter". For more than one quarter, callers prefer "Sweep a Quarter, Sweep another Quarter", "Sweep Two Quarters" or "Sweep One Half"; "Sweep a Quarter Twice" is uncommon. The manual notes care is needed with groups whose first language is not English.
Manual source: Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026, page 57. Reproduced under the permission in sources and attribution.