When was line dancing invented

That being said, the earliest records of line dancing dates back to , where dance instructions written in a book were found, suited to English Country Dancing. It can therefore be theorized that line dancing originated from European Country or Contra dancing, which was done in New England, and brought over with the settlers who immigrated to the United States at later points in time.

The settlers would have brought their culture with them, only to bring it into an environment budding with plenty of cultural influences. The United States of America is a cultural melting pot. During the 18th and 19th centuries, European folk dances were mixed together. During the mids, an American country and western dance style had evolved in the West and Midwest of the United States.

This new type of dance incorporated some steps and patterns from older folk dances influenced by the culture of the time, and country and western dances were predominantly circle and line dances. This relates to line dancing, as some forms are not done in lines but in circular line formations where the dancers face the inside or the outside. Contra dances from New England in the early s can be directly linked to European folk dances, which inspired many aspects of modern line dancing.

Dancers would form 2 lines, a line of men and a line of women. During the s, some dances appeared that could be called line dances. This dance included standard steps and was danced in lines.

It is also believed that line dancing was invented on disco floors during the s. Line dancing as we know it today was born in , despite the fact that the concept had already been around for a while.

This dance is the first known choreographed line dance. Two more dances were choreographed in the s. A lot of folk dances were adapted to country music and renamed. It is unknown when the dance to the song was choreographed; however, the earliest known step description dates to The song became one of the most popular Billy Ray Cyrus songs, and it was one of the biggest country songs of the s.

After the arrival of this song, line dancing became popular all around North America, Australia, and Europe, and dancers started to offer line dance classes. It helped to start a trend of dancing to forms of music other than country. During the mids country, western music was influenced by the popularity of line dancing. Max Perry and Jo Thompson Szymanski, Scott Blevins, and several others used ballroom rhythms and techniques to take line dancing to the next level.

Macarena was a hit that was based on a line dance in the mids. While the formation of line dancing as we know it is rather blurry with so many influences and iconic cultural inspirations, one can estimate the approximate journey from folk and tradition inspired dances to modern line dancing.

There have been various events and influences which have inspired the development of line dancing over time, with some having more power of influence than others. There are many more line dances that were created in accordance with the culture and changing developments in the formation of line dancing, all of which had less prominent yet still significant roles in shaping modern line dancing. Other iconic line dances which were created during the s include:.

Line dances are separated into different categories depending on how many walls they use in their dancing sequence. The most commonly used forms of line dancing are one-wall dances, two-wall dances, and four-wall dances. The Macarena was a hit in the mids and it is still very popular today. The most popular country line dance is Cotton-Eye-Joe , which became prevalent when Rednex released their version of the classic folk song in But another such occasion was in the remake of the movie Footloose in The line dance goes by the same name.

To find out more about this line dance and even learn it yourself see my post: What Line Dance is in the Movie Footloose? Like many things, the evolution of dance is not always clear-cut. While traditional country dances have been around since the pioneers of the West, the history of line dancing as it is known today are widely contested. While many believe that the start of line dancing can be traced back to the round and square dances of Europe, others would argue that it is a contemporary phenomenon only starting as early as the s.

For the sake of completeness, we would be remiss not to discuss early traditional dances for the impact that they would eventually have upon line dancing. The Shim Sham actually originated in a night club. We would take it to the Savoy, and we would just start doing it.

The Madison probably started in Chicago, although it may have been Detroit or Cleveland. The Cowboy Boogie aka. The Watergate is started. He originally named the dance Watergate after the Nixon scandal later, by an unknown person it became The Cowboy Boogie. The Electric Slide is started.

There are several different theories as to how and when line dancing originated. Line dancing has many forms and has existed for thousands of years in many parts of the world. The first known line dance instructions were written in a book of dance sheets in for English Country Dancing. Country line dancing appears to have originated in Europe and arrived to the United States with the settlers who immigrated to America. Some theorists agree that the Country Line dancing that we know today evolved from the English Country Dances, or Contra dances, that were danced in the New England states of the U.

These Contra dances came to America by the settlers who brought their dance traditions with them. Contra dancing was a combination of European folk dances and country dancing.