A Little Line Dance History For Ya!
It's no secret that line dancing is back in style! The line dancing of today is less about what you might’ve learned in your school PE class and more about partying the night away.
Whether it is due to the popularity of TikTok dance challenges, the rise of tourism in Nashville, or a resurgence of classic country music, the Honky-Tonks of Broadway are filled with people line dancing.
While this is a dance form everyone can enjoy, we find it’s even more enjoyable with awareness of its rich origins.
The line dancing sweeping the internet may seem like a modern trend but the dance form actually dates back to the early 1800s where there parallels of line dance, or country dance, and the origins of country music are deeply related. Just as country music originated from folk music and the same goes for line dance. Immigrants brought the familiar dances of the reels, waltz, polka and square dance to social gatherings where folk music was played.
Flash forward to the 1970s when disco and line dance merged and dances like the “Walkin’ Waltz” and “Cowboy Boogie” debuted. Then, thanks to the film Urban Cowboy in 1980, line dance made its mark in popular culture. In the early 90s mainstream country music accelerated the growth of the dance style with songs Billy Ray Cyrus’ ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ and Brooks & Dunn’s ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie’. While these songs helped to shape how dancers were performed, Honky-tonks often putting their own regional twist on the routines with variations in steps, counts, and complexity.
With the evolution of country music, different dance forms have been integrated to create modern line dances like Blanco Brown’s ‘The Git Up’, Tyler Hubbard’s ‘Dancing In The Country’ and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shivers’. These uptempo songs take note from those early folk dances but have morphed into a unique style of their own.
We love that the versatility of line dance is what makes it so fun. Dancers of all skill levels, ages, and genders can participate in this accessible dance form. It has no bounds and music evolution brings an ever-growing opportunity for line dance to advance.
If you’re curious to begin learning some line dance moves for yourself there are endless Youtube videos & Tiktok tutorials you can find online. And if you’re ever in the city of Nashville, you can’t beat a private lesson at New Boots Line Dancing!