A friend and neighbor got me interested in Line Dancing
about 15 years ago and it has become my favorite past time and exercise routine. So much so that I took over being the
volunteer dance instructor at our community Club House in our old neighborhood
in Florida. I thought moving to Middle
Tennessee and being so close to Nashville, that it would be an easy process of
getting a line dance class established. That has proven to be more difficult than I
anticipated.
I am happy to announce that starting in September; Austin
Peay University will include a beginner class in their Adult Education program
open to the community and students. I am fortunate to be a part of this start
up program as the Instructor and the plan is to move it through the initial six
week program so we can expand to having a beginner and Intermediate program.
You mention Line Dancing and the first thing people say
is they don't like Country Western Music or they just don't get into line
dancing. Well, once they see that we
dance to everything from Country to Gospel, they tend to think a little differently.
A Line Dance is a choreographed dance
with a repeated sequence of steps in which a group of people dance in one or
more lines or rows without regard for the gender of the individuals, all facing
the same direction, and executing the steps at the same time. Line dancers are
not in physical contact with each other.
The earliest folk dances in many cultures were line dances, originating
before social proprieties allowed men and women to dance together in couple
dances. In early forms men and women often danced in separate lines, but the
same dances are often done today in mixed lines.
The
Balkan countries, among others, have a rich tradition of line dance surviving
to the present. These folk line dances are also performed in the International
Folk Dance movement. Folk line dances have many forms: pairs of lines in which
the dancers face each other, or a line formed into a circle, or the line
follows a leader around the dance floor. The dancers may hold hands with their
neighbors, or use an arm-on-shoulder hold, or hold their neighbor's belts.
Although
line dancing is associated with country-western music and dance, it has similarities
to folk dancing. 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, however, a distinguishing feature of
country western line dance. Line dances have accompanied many popular music styles since the early 1970s including pop, swing, rock and roll, disco, Latin, gospel, waltz, polka and Jazz just to name a few styles.
Thanks to choreographers, like Bill Bader, Max Perry, Jo Thompson, Scott Blevins and others, that began to use ballroom rhythms and technique to take line dancing to the next level. Today, you can find line dancing groups all over the world and line dance competition and workshops as well. This is partly due the great Choreographers/Instructors such as Jamie Marshall, John Robinson, Guyton Mundy, Rachael McEnaney, Rob Fowler, Rona Kaye, Stella Cabeca, Jo Kisner and Ira Weisburd just to name a few of the great people that promote and spread the joy of dancing to the local and world-wide masses.
There are now groups forming that promote line dancing as a way to help decrease cholesterol, high blood pressure as well as weight control. So you see Line Dancing is not the good ole country steppin you thought it was, there are moves to keep your heart rate up and it’s a great way to meet new friends. Get out there and get those feet and hips moving to the groove.
Keep Dancin’ Larry B
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