We
have found a new form or exercise and fun - yep Line Dancing,
Chris decided when she came
back
from NZ in the New Year that we were going to classes, we missed one
with Chris being in NZ
we
went along on the following Thursday morning at 1030. The group is
run by a lovely young lady
Karen
Coombes & our group is called Let's Go! Linedancin. More
woman than men but there are at
least
3 blokes. Great exercise man you get hot in the summer a real workout
no need to join a gym.
We
both had two left feet & trying to remember the steps &
sequences is fun & a challenge. They are
a
great crowd & pretty social. We have been going for around 12wks
& the difference from when we
started
is huge. We have been to a Ten Pin Bowling night which ended at MacDs
with coffee,nuggets & fries
before we all headed home, we went along to a social one Sunday
afternoon which was great fun. A
week ago we went along after class to the Caloundra RSL to
dance & listen to HeartBeat Duo, now who
would have thought 12 wks ago we would be up dancing in public - we
certainly did not, & this Saturday we
are attending a huge social at Yandina going early for a meal then
dancing later, could be a lateish night
& driving back to Bribie will be fun but who cares will be a
great afternoon evening with our new found
friends.
Line
Dancing - What is it & where did it originate? - well
read on.
Line dancing is exactly what its name implies: people dancing in
lines to music. Line dances are choreographed dances with a repeating
series of steps that are performed in unison by a group of people in
lines or rows. All of the dancers performing a line dance face the
same direction and perform the steps at exactly the same time.
Although there are usually several lines of dancers, small groups may
only form one line. Line dancers rarely interact with each other
during a dance, as the steps are performed by everyone at the same
time.
Line Dancing History
Although many popular line dances are set to country music, the
first line dances did not originate from country and western dancing.
Line dancing is believed to have originated from
folk
dancing, which has many similarities.
Contra
dancing, a form of American folk dance in which the dancers form
two parallel lines and perform a sequence of dance movements with
different partners down the length of the line, probably had a huge
influence on the line dancing steps we a familiar with today. During
the 1980's, line dances began to be created for popular country
songs.
Line Dance Format
Basic line dances focus on movements of the legs and feet, with
more advanced dances including the arms and hands. The movements of a
line dance are marked as "counts." Generally, one count
equals one musical beat, with a particular movement or step taking
place at each beat.
A line dance will have a certain number of counts, meaning the
number of beats in one complete sequence of the dance. For example, a
64-count dance would contain 64 beats. The number of beats does not
necessarily equal the number of steps, however, as steps can be
performed between two beats or over more than one beat. Line dances
are made up of a certain number of steps, with each step identified
by a catchy name.
Line dancing Today
Because its steps are simple and don't involve dancing with a
partner, line dancing is ideal for singles and nondancers. Line
dancing is taught and practiced in country and western dance bars,
social clubs and dance halls around the world. One of the most
popular line dances performed today is the
Cha-Cha
Slide.
History and culture
Line
dance is sometimes thought of as originating in the Wild West. In
fact, it has a much more diverse background and there is a popular
saying that "real cowboys don't line dance". Many folk
dances are danced in unison in a single, nonlinear "line",
and often with a connection between dancers. 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 1900s, including swing, rock and roll,
and disco. 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. Two non-country line dances from the
1970s are "The Bus Stop" and "Nutbush". Over a
dozen line dances were created during the 1980s for country songs.
"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.Billy Ray Cyrus' 1992 hit Achy Breaky Heart,
helped catapult western line dancing back into the musical
mainstream's public consciousness. 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. It's all that damn line
dancing."
In 1994 choreographer Max Perry had a worldwide dance hit with "Swamp
Thang" for the song of the same name by The Grid. 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 with
the techno dance song "5,6,7,8". In 1999 the Gap retailer
debuted the "Khaki Country" ad on the Academy Awards
ceremony. Line dancers performed to the 1999 version of Crazy Little
Thing Called Love by Dwight Yoakum.
Line dancing is a popular recreation activity and 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.
Two popular dances that technically classify as line dances are the
Nutbush (performed to "Nutbush City Limits" by Tina Turner)
and the Macarena.The Chicken Dance, although danced in a circle, may
be considered to be a line dance.
Line dancing in the late 1990s, and so far through the 2000s, has
changed in some line dance clubs with the main bulk of the dancing
done to pop music. This has brought with it a renewed interest in
this form of dancing.
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 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), a four-count movement to the side. 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.
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. 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. Originally created in the 1920's, the pattern is
designed to blend the diagonal alignments in the room.
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. Can move forward, backward, left or right.
Shuffle step: A triple step to the front or the
back, left or right side, starting on either foot. 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.
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.
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 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.
In a one-wall dance, the dancers face the same direction at the
end of the sequence as at the beginning.
In a two-wall dance, repetitions of the sequence end
alternately at the back and front walls. In other words, the dancers
have effectively turned through 180 degrees during one set. The samba
line dance is an example of a two-wall dance. While doing the "volte"
step, the dancers turn 180 degrees to face a new wall.
In a four-wall dance, the direction faced at the end of the
sequence is 90 degrees to the right or left from the direction in
which they faced at the beginning. As a result, the dancers face each
of the four walls in turn at the end of four consecutive repetitions
of the sequence, before returning to the original wall. The hustle
line dance is an example of a four-wall dance because in the final
figure they turn 90 degrees to the left to face a new wall.
