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These pages are the international folk dances, line dances, and Sacred Circle dances with a dedicated information pages on this site. I create one of these pages when we learn or review a new/old dance at Tuesday Night Folk Dancing and I can’t find an existing page on the dance or I’m not satisfied with what’s already out there. I collect information from web searches and package the best (in my opinion) videos, music, and dance history and information for learning the dance.

Page Composition

My dance information pages are aggregations of information I find on the web at dance info sites, YouTube videos, and my own insights. My sources are, primarily, Andrew Carnie’s Folk Dance Musings, Dick Oakes’ Folk Dance Federation of California, South Dance Notes, and Don Buskirk’s Folkdance Footnotes, along with random websites, Wikipedia, Google translates of non-English websites, and my very own priceless wit. I package it all with resource links, dance information profiles, embedded/linked folk dance videos for demonstration and learning, music recordings suitable for dancing or sometimes just for listening, and lyrics for songs. I craft each page as an aid for myself when I am learning a dance and throw in some witty observations and learning tips of my very own. I only include dance steps when I can’t find someone else’s, I am documenting a different version, or what’s out there is not clear. If you need written steps, follow a link. I am interested in the music as much, or more, than the dances, so you will find some bias there.

Navigation

The Resource Links give you quick access to a page on this site, another note site, YouTube or other dance videos, music, dance note documents, and sheet music that I find helpful.

Terminology

Firstly, I use the folkdancer’s definition of folk dance: “The dances that [international] folk dance group do.” Most of what our group and other International Folk Dance (IDF) groups dance is a form of non-partner “circle dance,” also known as “chain dance.” Circle dance is an ancient form of non-partner social and sacred dance where dancers connected to each other in a chain by some sort of hand/arm/finger hold, and it can take the formation of a straight line, serpentine line, semicircle, or full circle. Other sites will call this a “line dance,” but I reserve that term for what has now been popularized by Country-Western dance in USA, also known as “modern line dance,” since many other music genres are used. To confuse things more for you, Sacred Circle dances are often referred to simply as “Circle Dances” with the intention that it means “Sacred Circle Dance” rather than the broad encompassing term “circle dance.” Sacred Circle Dance is a different kind of animal than historic International Folk Dance circle dances, because the method mixes and matches motifs of folk dances from various countries, but the dances aren’t cultural representations of any style, and the music cultural choices are often very different from the dance styles. This causes some confusion and drives international folk dance purists insane! I include Sacred Circle Dances because many IDF groups have welcomed the additions to our aging repertoire.

Dance Groups

Dance group is only used for page title purposes, and it is similar to dance type with the difference being Circle Dance is separated into subgroups of Circle Folk Dance and Sacred Circle Dance.

  • Circle Dance (non-partner, chain)
    • Circle Folk Dance: Non-partner dances done by IFD groups with dancers usually connected by hands or arms, but sometimes no hold, but all dancers do the same steps (with variations) in anything from a completed circle to a straight line formation. Dances may be ones people currently or at one time danced in the country attributed to the dance. They may also be dance creations representative of the music and dance style of a country, but never actually danced by the people in that country.
    • Sacred Circle Dance: Non-partner circle dances that don’t represent any specific ethnicity or style but are rather choreographed with simple steps expressing the music and spiritual bonding between humans and between humans and the earth. The repetition of the steps allows dancers to enter a trancelike and meditative state. The genre of music is noted, but this in no way indicates that the dance is representative of the corresponding country, ethnicity, or style.
  • Line Dance (Country-Western style): Non-partner dances where dancers are arranged in a single or multiple lines and dance as individuals doing the same choreography, which is specific for the song or tune. Country-Western bar and club dancing popularized this form, but line dance preceded and has expanded far beyond just the country-western genre. Although many line dances are done by international folk dance clubs, the dances are neither traditional “folk” nor ethnic dances, although there are folk dances in line format
  • Partner Dance
    • Partner Folk Dance: Traditional partner dances done by the common folk, distinct from the ballroom dances of the privileged. This group includes both choreographed, called, and free-style dances.
      • Mixer Folk Dance: A subgroup of Partner Folk Dance. Choreographed partner dances, usually in a circle, where dancers change partners by one progressing (usually moving forward) to a new partner while the other remains in place, receiving a new partner.

I’m revisiting pages to standardize formatting that I’ve developed over the past 16 months of this site. My new page title format follows:

Dance Name [Choreographer] – dance group – Country-or-Style/Region {Music Genre}

Index of Dance Information Pages on This Site: International Folk Dances, Line Dances, Sacred Circle Dances, Partner Folk Dances

You can also use the TNFD Dance table and tick the Has a Page on This Site checkbox to see the index in table format.