Yes, there is a week for a
passion of mine, Line Dancing. So in
honor of next week, I thought it best to do a sort of a repost of an earlier
article on Line Dancing and also do a shameless plug for my current activities...
I am currently the resident
Instructor at a great family place, Murph’s
Country Music Barn in Cedar Hill, TN. This is a great location and right
about midway between Nashville and Clarksville.
The Barn has a Saturday Night Dance with live band and Dance class from
6:30 to 7:30 pm then review of the class during the first band break.
Starting September 22, 2014;
Austin Peay State University (APSU) 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 and the plan
is to move it through the initial six week program so we can expand to having a
beginner and Intermediate program. So spread the word to all you know in the
Clarksville, TN area especially those who have said they always wanted to learn
how to dance…
I have also started a Line Dance
Fitness class for the APSU Recreation Department at their Foy Fitness Center.
This class is a low impact, cardio workout class. We have just kicked it off
for this semester and we are seeing great interest as we will build upon our
dances and making it a full hour of dance. This class is open to students, faculty
and those with memberships at the FOY.
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.
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. Dancing in any form has far reaching benefits such as strengthening
bones and muscles, tone your entire body, improve posture and balance, boost
memory, improve flexibility, increase energy, reduce stress and tension and increase
mental capacity. Plus dance classes are a great social event to meet new
friends.
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
