Country/western dance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Country/western dance, also called Country and Western dance, encompasses many dance forms or styles, which are typically danced to country-western music, and which are stylistically associated with American country and/or western traditions. In this article the terms "country/western", "country-western" and "western" are used interchangeably.

Forms and styles

These dance forms or styles fall into two basic categories:

Partner dances, also known as western couple dancing
Group dances

Western couple dancing is a form of social dance. Many different dances are done to country-western music. These dances include: Two Step, shuffle, Western promenade dances, Waltz, Polka, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, cha cha, and Nightclub Two Step. The Two Step and various Western promenade or pattern couples dances are unique to country western dancing.

Western group dances include the following:

Line dance
Square dance
- Traditional square dance
- Modern Western square dance

This style of dancing is not recognized within competitive ballroom dancing, however there are separate country/western dance competitions.

History

In the late 1930s through the 1950s millions of Americans in the Lower Great Plains danced to [Western Swing] at roadhouses, county fairs and dancehalls in small towns. The music was strictly for dancing, and included mostly the simpler one and two step dances with quite a few foxtrots along with both "cowboy" and "Mexican" waltzes. [1]

Cain's Dance Academy opened in 1930 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. People danced to "hot hillbilly music" or "hot string-band music". Bob Wills and Texas Play Boys played Western Swing nightly from 1934 until 1943. Crowds at Cain's Ballroom were as large as 6,000 people. Regular shows continued until 1958 with Johnnie Lee Wills as the bandleader. [2]

During the early days of WWII National Guardsmen patrolled the beaches of Venice, California in search of enemy submarines and ships. During the daytime, Venice became a major draw for sailors and soldiers on weekend leave. Country Western and Swing music echoed from the dance halls and casino lounges.[3]

Bands playing Western Swing attracted "people (who) were top-notch jitterbugging, jumping around, cutting loose and going crazy” during the 1940s and into the 1950s. In the Los Angeles area, the Venice Pier Ballroom, the Riverside Rancho in Los Feliz, and the Santa Monica Ballroom were all homes to popular Western Swing bands. [4]

After WWII the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco hosted a syndicated radio show that featured Bob Wills & His Texas Plaboys. Wills opened the Wills Point nightclub in Sacramento.

400 South Long Beach Boulevard in the suburb of Compton in Los Angeles, California was the site of California's largest barn dance. The Town Hall Barn Dance ran on Friday and Saturday nights from 1951 through 1961. Over 2,000 people paid to attend, and over 1,000 people danced to live performances of popular entertainers. The shows were broadcast both on radio and television. [5][6]

During the 1970s and 1980s Gilley's Club in Pasadena, Texas, with its Texas-size bar and a Texas-size dance floor could hold 6,000 people in its 48,000 square feet, and was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest nightclub. [7]

Clogging

Clogging is a country/western step dance which is usually danced in groups, and is most often danced to bluegrass music. It could be described as being like a more animated version of Irish step dance or a country/western version of tap dancing. There are also dance competitions for clogging.

Organisations

Country/western dance is practiced in country-western dance bars, social clubs, dance clubs and ballrooms worldwide.

The United Country Western Dance Council establishes standards and sanctions dance competitions for this form of dancing.

Newest Dance Circuit ... American Country Dance Association came about in 2003. This new Country Western dance circuit was formed to reflect the changing needs and requests of the country dance community.