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A line dance is a formation dance in which a group of people dance in one or more lines (British English, "rows"), all facing the same direction, and executing the same choreographed movements at the same time. Formation dance involves anywhere from two to dozens of couples performing a choreographed routine Group dances are danced by groups of people simultaneously as opposed to individuals dancing alone or individually and as opposed to couples dancing together Line dancers are not in physical contact with each other. Older "line dances" have lines in which the dancers face each other, or the "line" is a circle, or all dancers in the "line" follow a leader around the dance floor; while holding the hand of the dancers beside them. [1]

Line dancing at a Country Western Dance Hall and Saloon.
Line dancing at a Country Western Dance Hall and Saloon.

Contents

Description

In a small group there may be only one line, but usually there are several parallel lines, one behind the other. In this parallel line formation, the dancers dance in a synchronized manner, but independently of each other. There are usually no moves that require any interaction between the dancers, other than they execute the maneuvers at the same time.

Although line dances can be fairly simple, as with the 18 count 4 wall beginner "Electric Slide," increasing complexity can be created through several means. In general, higher-count sequences are more difficult. (One "count" corresponds to one musical beat. ) The inclusion of unusual or unfamiliar sequences of steps also makes a dance more challenging. Body movements other than steps, such as hand gestures, can add complexity. "Phrased" line dances are written to go with specific versions of songs. Tags, bridges, and skipping over, or repeating portions of the dance, are all devices that are used to follow the phrasing in the music. These phrased dances require dancers to be more conscious of the music and not simply repeat the same sequence of steps for an entire song.

Contra line dances such as "Wild Wild West" by Lana Harvery [1] [2] have two sets of lines with the dancers facing each other. Dancers may make momentary contact while coming close to, or passing, the dancer in the opposing line.

Music

Line dancing has a cowboy image, and it was danced predominantly to country-western music. A cowboy is an animal Herder who tends Cattle on Ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback and often performs a multitude of Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. This has been changing since the 1970s, when the hustle line dance became popular. Line dancing became even more popular with a wider range of music in the 1990s, as more young people took up line dancing (largely due to several pop bands releasing songs with videos featuring what later became line dances). Today, country music may make up the minority of a line dance DJ's playlist, with the balance spread over a variety of musical styles both new and old. Genres including Celtic, Swing, Pop, Rock, Big Band, Folk, and almost anything else that has a regular beat.

History and culture

Line dance is sometimes thought of as originating in the Wild West. In fact, it has a much more diverse background. Many folk dances are danced in unison in a single, nonlinear "line", and often with a connection between dancers. Folk dance is a term used to describe a large number of dances mostly of European origin that tend to share the following attributes originally danced in about the The absence of a physical connection between dancers is a distinguishing feature of country western line dance. Line dances have accompanied many popular music styles since the early 1970s, including swing, rock and roll, and disco. The term " swing dance " commonly refers to a group of dances that developed concurrently with the swing style of Jazz music in the 1920s '30s and '40s although Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African Disco is a Genre of dance-oriented music whose origins are hard to define The variety and popularity of line dances in the late 20th, and early 21st century is, however, noteworthy.

Line dancing's current popularity grew out of the disco period, when the country-western dance and music communities continued to explore and develop this form of dancing.

At least five line dances that are strongly associated with country-western music were written in the 1970s, two of which are dated to 1972: "Walkin' Wazi" and "Cowboy Boogie". This was five years before the disco craze created by the release of Saturday Night Fever in 1977. Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 film starring John Travolta as Tony Manero a troubled Brooklyn youth whose weekend activities are dominated Two non-country line dances from the 1970s are "The Bus Stop" and "Nutbush". [3] Over a dozen line dances were created during the 1980s for country songs. [4][5] "Boot Scootin' Boogie" was choreographed by Bill Bader in October of 1990 for the original Asleep at the Wheel recording of the song of the same name. Asleep at the Wheel, is a multiple Grammy Award -winning Country / Western Swing band formed in Paw Paw West Virginia, but based in Austin [6][7] Billy Ray Cyrus' 1992 hit Achy Breaky Heart, helped catapult western line dancing back into the musical mainstream's public consciousness. Billy Ray Cyrus (born William Ray Cyrus; August 25 1961 is a Grammy Award -nominated American Country music singer songwriter and actor from Flatwoods " Achy Breaky Heart " is a hit Country music song written by Don Von Tress In the mid 1990s country western music was influenced by the popularity of line dancing. This influence was so great that Chet Atkins was quoted as saying "The music has gotten pretty bad, I think. Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins ( June 20, 1924 &ndash June 30, 2001) was an influential Guitarist and Record producer It's all that damn line dancing. " [2]

In 1994 choreographer Max Perry had a worldwide dance hit with "Swamp Thang" for the song of the same name by The Grid. For other uses of the title The Grid see The Grid (disambiguation. This was a techno song that fused banjo sounds in the melody line and helped to start a trend of dancing to forms of music other than country. Max Perry, along with Jo Thompson, Scott Blevins and several others, began to use ballroom rhythms and technique to take line dancing to the next level. In 1998, the band Steps created further interest outside of the U. Steps was a pop group that achieved a series of charted singles between 1997 and 2001 S. with the techno dance song 5,6,7,8. Techno is a form of Electronic dance music (EDM that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, USA during the mid to late 1980s "5 6 7 8" was the first single released by the British pop group Steps. In 1999 the Gap retailer debuted the "Khaki Country" ad on the Academy Awards ceremony. [8] Line dancers performed to the 1999 version of Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Dwight Yoakum. " Crazy Little Thing Called Love " is a song performed by the English rock band Queen, written by singer Freddie Mercury. Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American Country music Singer, Songwriter, and Actor Line dance now has very traditional dances to country music, and not so traditional dances to non country music.

Line dancing is practiced and learned in country-western dance bars, social clubs, dance clubs and ballrooms worldwide. It avoids the problem of imbalance of male/female partners that plagues ballroom/swing/salsa dancing clubs. It is sometimes combined on dance programs with other forms of country-western dance, such as two-step, shuffle, and western promenade dances, as well as western-style variants of the waltz, polka and swing. Western promenade dances are a form of Partner dance traditionally danced to country-western music, and which are stylistically associated with American The waltz is a ballroom and folk Dance in time, performed primarily in Closed position. The polka is a fast lively Central European Dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas The term " swing dance " commonly refers to a group of dances that developed concurrently with the swing style of Jazz music in the 1920s '30s and '40s although

Two popular dances that technically classify as line dances are the Nutbush (performed to "Nutbush City Limits" by Tina Turner) and the Macarena. The Nutbush is a dance categorized as a Line dance, performed to Tina Turner 's song " Nutbush City Limits " " Nutbush City Limits " is Tina Turner 's semi-autobiographical rock song in which she portrays Nutbush Tennessee, the town where she was born and Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an eight time Grammy Award -winning American " Macarena " is a Spanish song by Los del Río about a woman of the same name or any woman from the La Macarena neighborhood of The Chicken Dance, although danced in a circle, may be considered to be a line dance. The " Chicken Dance " is an Oom-pah song composed by Swiss Accordion (Handharmonika player Werner Thomas from Davos,

Terms

Basic

A basic is one repetition of the main dance from the first count to the last not including any tags or bridges. In competition if this is danced "as written" with no variations, it is called "Vanilla" stop

Variation

Dancers who have progressed beyond beginner status will often replace a section of a dance (say 8 beats) with a compatible set of steps which is called a variation. This is often required in competitive line dancing.

Count

A dance will have a number of counts, for example a 64-count dance. This is the number of beats of music it would take to complete one sequence of the dance. This is not necessarily the same number of steps in the dance as steps can be performed on an and count between two beats, or sometimes a step holds over more than one beat.

Restart

A restart is a point at which the basic dance sequence is interrupted and the dance routine is started again from the beginning. Restarts are used to fit the dances to the phrasing of the music.

Step

A dance is made up of a number of movements called steps. Each step is given a name so teachers can tell dancers to perform this step when teaching a dance. The most well-known is the grapevine (or vine for short), which is usually a four-step movement to the side. Grapevine is the name of a Dance figure, which may look different in various ballroom, club, and folk Dances but shares a common There can be any number of movements in one step.

Step descriptions

Descriptions of some dance steps in their typical form are below. They are subject to variations in particular dances, where a stomp or a point may occur instead of a touch, for example, in the grapevine.

Chasse: One foot moves to the side, the other foot is placed next to it, and the first foot moves again to the side. Chasse or chassé is a Dance step used in many dances in many variants all of them being Triple-step patterns of gliding character steps going basically

Grapevine: One foot moves to the side, the other moves behind it, the first foot moves again to the side, and the second touches next to the first. Grapevine is the name of a Dance figure, which may look different in various ballroom, club, and folk Dances but shares a common There are variations: the final step can consist of a hitch, a scuff, placement of weight on the second foot, and so forth. The name of the step is sometimes abbreviated to vine.

Weave: To the left or the right. This is a grapevine with a cross in front as well as a cross behind. Creates a slight zig zag pattern on the floor.

Triple Step: This is 3 steps being taken in only 2 beats of music. Triple Step is a generic term for Dance Step patterns that describes three steps done on two main beats of music Can move forward, backward, left, right or on the spot.

Shuffle step: A triple step to the front or the back, left or right side, starting on either foot. Triple Step is a generic term for Dance Step patterns that describes three steps done on two main beats of music The feet slide rather than being given the staccato (short and sharp) movement of the cha-cha. There is a slight difference in the interpretation of the timing to give the element its distinctive look. It is counted as 1 & 2, 3 & 4, etc. However, the actual amount of time devoted to each of the 3 steps in the shuffle is 3/4 of a beat, 1/4 of a beat, then one full beat of music.

Lock step: A triple step backwards or forwards, starting on either foot, with the second foot slid up to and tightly locked in front of or behind the first foot before the first foot is moved a second time in the same direction as for the first step. Lock Step refers to any of Dance steps which involve the "locking" of the Moving foot: the moving foot approaches to the Standing foot, crosses

Other steps include applejack, botafogo, butterfly, coaster step, heel grind, hitch, jazz box, kick ball change, kick ball step, lunge, mambo step, military turn, Monterey turn, paddle, pivot turn, rock step, sailor step, scuff, spiral turn, stamp, stomp, sugarfoot, swivet and vaudeville. Botafogo, also sometimes spelt as Bota-fogo or Bota Fogo, is a Dance step in Samba. A Coaster Step is term used in Swing dances in particular in West Coast Swing to describe a Triple Step done in the pattern "back-together-forward" Jazz box redirects here For the guitar type known colloquially by this name see Archtop guitar. Ball change is a Dance move that consists of two steps a partial weight transfer on the ball of a foot (placed e Mambo is a Latin dance of Cuban origin that corresponds to Mambo music. The term pivot turn or simply pivot refers to certain turning Dance steps which may differ in different dance styles with common character that the turn is a rotational Rock step (also called break step) may refer to one of similar Dance moves The name refers to the rocking action during the move the weight is transferred from one

Tag / Bridge

A tag or bridge is an extra set of steps not part of the main dance sequence that are inserted into one or more sequences to ensure the dance fits with the phrasing of the music. The term tag usually implies only a few additional counts (e. g. 2 or 4), whereas bridge implies a longer piece (e. g. 8 or 16). The terms are generally interchangeable, however.

Wall

Each dance is said to consist of a number of walls. A wall is the direction in which the dancers face at any given time: the front (the direction faced at the beginning of the dance), the back or one of the sides. Dancers may change direction many times during a sequence, and may even, at any given point, be facing in a direction half-way between two walls; but at the end of the sequence they will be facing the original wall or any of the other three. Whichever wall that is, the next iteration of the sequence uses that wall as the new frame of reference.


References

  1. ^ International Folk Dance at a Glance. Second Edition. Cecile Gilbert. Burgess Publishing Company. 1974. SBN 8087-0727-2
  2. ^ The Roots of Country Music" Collectors Edition by Life September 1, 1994

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External links

Line dance resources

Major line dance events and competitions

Dictionary

line dance

-noun

  1. A dance in where a group of people perform the same dance while in a line.
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