A New Found Form Of Excercise

We have found a new form or exercise and fun - yep Line Dancing, I decided when she came

back from NZ in the New Year that we were going to classes, we missed one with myself still 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 now go to socials,RSLs & we can get up & dance in front of people taking part in the dances that we know. 

What Is Line Dancing?

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.

Terms of Dance:

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. 

 And this is our AMAZING Teacher - Karen Coombes, this was when we first started.

 Below is us now in our club shirts: