Country Line Dancers Gain Internet Following As They Move In Perfect Unison

Jun 04, 2021 by apost team

There’s something mesmerizing about group performances. Whether it’s the unusual Japanese sport of synchronized walking or Bill Whelan’s well-known “Riverdance” show, when large groups of talented people perform together in perfect harmony, it’s particularly captivating. That’s also the case when it comes to country line dancing as you will see in this popular video from 2014. Although we can’t seem to trace the video’s origin, we found it on YouTube and had to share it.

The remarkable line dance routine sees around a dozen dancers, a mix of women and men, sport cowboy hats and blue jeans as they move, clap and slide in unison to the music. The performance, which takes place outdoors, attracts quite a crowd of onlookers who seemingly can’t help but admire the well-timed coordination of these line dancing experts. 

While we can’t know for sure what the occasion is, viewers will also see a red Ferrari in the background at what looks like a mall, which might indicate that this dancing troupe is performing for a promotional event. Regardless of the reason, it’s a joy to watch — and the rest of the world seems to think so too. Since the video’s upload back in the summer of 2014, the clip has accumulated more than 4 million views, thousands of likes and hundreds of comments left by viewers from all over the world.

While it’s unfortunate that we don’t know where to find more videos of this group of talented dancers, we can be thankful that we have this opportunity to watch their summer show.

While videos like this one have popularized line dancing beyond the U.S., few people seem to know its history or origins. According to Dance Facts, we can trace line dancing back to the 1950s when a dance called the Madison spread throughout the country. The Madison was followed by the San Francisco Stomp, which came onto the scene in 1961. But it wasn’t until the 1970s when country-western-influenced dance routines became popular. These country-western dance routines — namely the Cowboy Boogie and Walkin’ Wazi — became mainstream thanks to “Saturday Night Fever,” a 1977 Hollywood musical that stars John Travolta. The film, as Dance Facts explains, mixed line dancing with disco dancing, catapulting these genres of dance into the spotlight.

In the 1980s, Travolta once again had a hand in popularizing line dancing with the film “Urban Cowboy,” a romantic western that glorified country culture.

Other line dancing milestones include Billy Ray Cyrus’ song “Achy Breaky Heart,” which mainstreamed country-western music, along with other popular tracks like “Macarena,” “Khaki Country” and “Swamp Thang.” But even if we understand line dancing’s history a bit better, it still might not be completely apparent what differentiates a line dance from any old coordinated routine.

“Line dancing involves people standing in lines and performing dance movements together,” Christy Lane writes in her book about line dancing. “It consists of patterned foot movements that are usually performed to a number of counts per sequence, and then the sequence is repeated. The dances are done one-wall, two-wall, or four-wall.”

What’s interesting about Lane’s definition — and what you might not have known — is that line dances don’t necessarily have to be set to country music. Who would have guessed that there’s dubstep line dancing?

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What do you think about this line dancing video? Did you know about the history of line dance? Let us know — and be sure to pass this on to family members and friends.