Linedancing - How Did We Begin?
A Walker
A number of authors have tried to trace the historic roots of
line dancing and, though they seldom agree, most seem to be of
the opinion that, “line dancing in one form or another has been
around since recorded time.”
Some accounts attribute the birth of line dancing to the old
prison chain gangs where convicts were hobbled together in two’s
- allegedly the source of the two count “Merengue” dance, whilst
others, like Californian Rick Bowen, believe that it “evolved
from the old ‘Contra’ dances that were very popular in the New
England States from the early 1800’s.” He added “Contra style
dances are still popular but in a slightly different form. In the
1800’s two lines would form, men on one side, women on the other.
The partners would join between the two lines and generally do
their own routine down the middle. When they reached the end of
the lines, they parted and moved back into their respective lines
and the next couple would begin.”
Rick argues that dances like the JR Hustle, dating back to 1980,
& The Travelling Four Corners, which were choreographed by Texan
(Miss) Jimmie Ruth White owed their existence to ‘Square
Dancing’. Indeed, “The Travelling Four Corners is, in it’s
original form, a quad dance (square) but choreographed in the
general concept of the line dance.” In fact he goes further by
suggesting that line dance is, just like the USA, a melting pot
of cultures and dance forms, “Until recently, the most common
move in line dances was the basic Schottische; step, cross, step,
lift (or scoot). This, followed by the Polka and the Cha Cha,
both of which play a large part in the composition of the line
dance. More recently, still, syncopations of the style normally
found in West Coast Swing have made a large imprint on the line
dance choreography.”
Bowen is supported in this view by another US line dance
choreographer, Fred Rapoport, who suggests that one of the most
popular country dances of all time, the Texas Two Step, was
created by frustrated military cadets passing through West
Point’s Military academy in the 1850’s. This unusual link, he
argues, provided a seminal influence in the birth of line
dancing, “Custer, along with Grant, Robert E. Lee, William
Sherman, and other great Civil War generals were all young
students at the United States Military Academy at this
time...These future heroes might allow their hand to slip down
the back of their dance partner, or an underarm turn might be
executed without removing the hand from the lady’s back, and
allowed it to slide to her front...The story evolves into a
direct order from the Commander of West Point. ‘All cadets, while
dancing with young ladies at formal functions, will now place
their right hand on the lady’s shoulder, and not on her back.’
The ‘Traditional’ !
Texas Two Step is therefore done with the man’s right hand on the
woman’s left shoulder.”
The Texas Two Step’s longevity is amazing. Over a hundred years
later it was to feature in the John Travolta film “Urban Cowboy”
and this urbanization of country music in the 1980’s, originated
by Willie Nelson’s 1975 crossover hit of the same name was
instrumental in lifting Country music and dance to a new plateau
in the USA. Quickly followed by the movie “Nine to Five” and
Dolly Parton’s song of the same name - Dolly’s music was to spawn
a clutch of the earlier line dances such as Melanie Greenwood’s
“Romeo” - saw Hollywood film productions catapult Country dance
out of the dance halls of rural America and into the mainstream.
It could be argued that this enabled the clutch of “New Country”
artists such as Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Reba McEntire, George
Strait, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Alabama to emerge resulting in
the confirmation that the C&W music genre, after a barren period,
was once again America’s Number one music choice.
In the early 1980’s, in a ballroom in Nashville, Jim Ferrazanno,
in company with Melanie Greenwood and a band that refused to play
any country, were about to establish a line dancing legend - Tush
Push.
As Jim recalled, “They were playing an awful lot of Cha-Chas when
I wrote it. A lot of people have put in hip bumps since then but
originally they were pelvic thrusts.” Jim scribbled his first
line dance on a napkin kindly provided by the management and
showed it to Melanie who promptly got up with him and began
dancing the new creation. Other dancers took to the floor and the
legend of the “Tush Push” was born. This, like “Electric Slide”,
“One Step Forward” and other dances of that era, were to play a
pivotal role in boosting the profile of line dancing but the real
breakthrough was to come a decade later when “New Country” &
“line dance” were paired together successfully for the first
time.
Whilst Garth Brooks proved instrumental in reviving the flagging
fortunes of Country Music his compatriot Billy Ray Cyrus, ably
assisted by Melanie Greenwood, must be credited for the quantum
leap forward that line dancing was to take in the 1990’s. Not
only was the track “Achy Breaky Heart” a phenomenal recording
success, spawning a new breed of country music fans referred to
as the “Cyrus Virus”, but Melanie’s 32 count, four wall dance of
the same name was to catapult line dancing into the international
limelight, it is why, as we approach the millennium, line dancing
has reached almost every point of the globe.
A comprehensive and truly international body of choreographic
work has been built up over the past decade and many experimental
concepts have been added, hip and body rolls and techno-pop to
name a few, though strangely enough, in Britain at least, we have
seen much “retrospective” re-introduction of older dances during
the recent past.
Whilst the future direction of line dancing may be subject to
change there is no doubt that not only it has earned its place as
a legitimate form of Western dance but it has ensured that many
of us will be “pushing our tushes” for many years to come.
A Walker - Linedancecompany.com dedicated to promoting all forms
of linedance and dancing in general, extensive
information, articles and resources regarding linedance -
http://linedancecompany.com/
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