Line dance - what is it?

Julie Rhoades
May 7
4 min read

Updated: May 8

Line dancing is a very social form of dance, where people all dance the same repeating pre-choreographed dances, at the same time, in lines or rows. As it’s danced without a partner, it’s open to everyone and very easy to join in!

Line dance is a global industry filled with hundreds (if not thousands) of choreographers, events, holiday and competition organisers, not to mention instructors and dancers! There are numerous organisations and governing bodies around the world that provide training and qualifications to ensure line dance instructors adopt similar professional teaching methods and ensure standards are consistent across the board. Learn to line dance and you can take it anywhere.

Line dance has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent years, particularly post Covid. It has also heavily inspired a huge uptake in country styled dance fitness classes that use upbeat country music to set the workout to. Country is cool again, thanks to popular artists like Beyonce! If you are unsure if your local class is a fitness class or a taught line dance class, just ask your instructor so you know what to expect at the class. They’ll be happy to answer.

What is a line dance?

In the 80’s and 90’s line dance was typically associated with Country & Western music, but its history goes back much further than that.

Although many different forms of assembled, partnerless dancing can be traced back to as early as the 1700’s in many different cultures, today’s contemporary line dance has constantly evolved over the decades. “The Madison” in the 1950’s, “The Hustle” and other disco classics in the 1970’s, even the Macarena in the 90’s can all be thought of as line dances.

A line dance is a series of pre-choreographed steps that form a short routine, typically 32 or 48 beats (or counts of music) in duration. That routine is repeated in a determined number of directions (or walls).

Today there are hundreds of internationally acclaimed, award-winning choreographers, instructors and presenters each writing and publishing their dances on a wide variety of sites including:

Linedancer Magazine

Copperknob

Everything Line Dance

Youtube

There’s so much choice available there’s always something new to learn!

What music is used today?

Today’s contemporary line dance uses all genres of music, including pop, Latin, hip hop, Irish, rock, motown, country and more, if it has a beat, we’ll line dance to it! You may also find classes that have a preference to solely use country music. Your instructor will happily tell you what they use in class.

What dance styles will I learn?

Line dancing encompasses a diverse range of styles, including latin, ballroom, hip hop, urban, smooth styles such as west coast swing and two step, lilt styles including polka and east coast swing and more. You should expect to learn a wide range of styles in your class. Your instructor will most likely have a good idea of what’s currently popular in the line dance industry “charts” and teach a good mix of new dances and golden oldies!

What can I expect in a class?

Here’s a brief explanation of how a line dance may be taught:

Breaking it down into sections

A line dance is choreographed and written in sections, the number of beats in each section is usually determined by the style of rhythm (or timing) of the music dance.

Example:

A typical beginners dance would use music in 4/4 timing and be 32 counts long in total. This would be written as 4 sections each being 8 counts long.

An instructor’s teaching methods may vary dependent upon the level of experience their class has, but you can typically expect your instructor to teach each section at a time, without music, building the routine up and linking each section together as you go. Your instructor will also be able to give variations or adaptions for any parts of the dance you may need to change, such as options for removing full turns. We want everyone to be able to join in!

When the full routine has been taught, the instructor will typically repeat the entire dance to each required “wall” or direction. Any tags or restarts will also be explained by your instructor. When the class is ready for music, your instructor will count you in to start the dance and cue throughout.

Teaching the Terminology

For less experienced dancers, your instructor should also focus on teaching terminology, ie, teaching commonly used steps/patterns “step by step” (or by each individual count) to build up your dancers “repertoire”. For beginners this can typically a range of patterns that cover multiple beats of music including chasses and shuffles, grapevines, coaster steps, pivot turns, jazz box. Learn "how to dance" rather than following routines and you'll find future learning easier and be a better dancer for it!

Teaching Technique

Each style or genre of dance has its own technique, much like latin or ballroom. Whether your instructor teaches elements of technique will be dependent on several considerations, such as whether they want to, have the knowledge required, the level of the class being taught, or simply whether the class wants to learn it! It would be appropriate to teach it to competitive students but beyond msome basics may or not be right for a social class. There’s no right or wrong here.

Do I need any experience to join in?

For classes of more experienced dancers that have that knowledge of steps, the instructor many not typically break down each pattern beat by beat, instead merely calling the pattern name so it’s super important you choose the right level of class based on your level of experience. A successful and enjoyable class is one where you can learn and achieve!