Types of Line Dances
Line dancing has been a popular pastime in North America since the 1800s. The first line dances were performed to country-and-western music, but today, line dancers move to pop and hip-hop songs in dance clubs and sometimes at wedding receptions. In line dances, dancers perform the same motions while arranged in lines. The group moves as a whole, but the dancers usually do not touch and interact as in partner or circle dancing.
At the start, dancers face the same direction, known as the “wall.” Some dances are one-wall, in which the dancers move in place but return to the same direction they started. Two-wall dances alternate from back to front. In four-wall dances, dancers face each of four directions at the end of each sequence.
The Electric Slide, also known as the Electric Boogie, is one of the most popular line dances and often is performed to a funk-style song at high school dances and wedding receptions. The name Electric Slide originates from one of the motions, in which each dancer takes a wide step to one side and slides the other foot over. This moves the line of dancers as one unit. Dancers then take a quarter turn at the end of each sequence, making it a four-wall dance.
Another popular dance at schools and weddings is the Cha Cha Slide, which is danced to a song with a mixture of funk and hip-hop. The Cha-Cha Slide is particularly easy to learn because the words of the song tell the dancers what moves to make. The Cha-Cha Slide motions also include a short musical break in each sequence with the lyrics “cha-cha real smooth now.” Dancers can do their own moves in this section to individualize the dance.
The Cupid Shuffle is another line dance in which the words of the song describe the moves. The song for this dance is by DJ Cupid from his 2007 studio album, Time for a Change. The dance moves are the typical slide to both sides and a kick with each foot. This dance also features a moment of individual dancing with the lyrics “walk it by yourself,” in which each dancer can choose the moves to make a quarter turn to the next side of the four-wall dance.
Cotton-Eyed Joe is a popular country music line dance. The song was originally an American folk tune played on a banjo and fiddle. Rednex, a Swedish Eurodance group, performs the line dance version of the song. It is a four-wall dance with four steps to each side with a handclap at the end of each side. Next, the dancers add a kick, swing the other leg back, then forward, then once to each side. On the inside swing, an outstretched hand taps a toe.
Dances such as Cotton-Eyed Joe may be harder to learn because the motions are more complex, and the song lyrics do not describe the moves. Dancers can learn by watching other line dancers and then trying it themselves.
