Folk Dance Basics
A bit of dry description: How does folk dancing work? As three Anglo dance types with common origins, Scottish country dancing, English country dancing and contra dancing unsurprisingly have many commonalities. All are social set dances, in which the basic form is thus: You have a partner, and with other couples, you and your partner take places in two lines, which form the set. You and your partner dance figures with 1 to 5 other couples. At the end of one iteration of these figures, you'll find that you've changed places with the other couples. As the music continues, you dance those figures again with new people.
Here are some sentence-long characterizations of each dance form. Check out what some other folks have to say for more complete thoughts.
- Scottish country dancing has rather formalized technique, including footwork and posture, harkening back to ballet.
- English country dancing tends more toward smooth, flowing elegance.
- Contra, an American traditional dance type that grew out of a number of British Isles dances, is generally about having a rousing good time, spinning, and getting sweaty.