Dancing Around the Issues

This is the old-time dance weekend on the mountain. I won't be around till this evening. So, I thought we would take a break from the news and I would share with you a little of what I know about old-time southern dance and music. The music and the dance go together...usually one time through the tune, one time through the dance. In the past just hearing the tune told you which dance to do. Southern music and dance is a cultural amalgam. It builds on a base of British country dance and tunes, illustrates the influence of the French quadrilles with square dances, cranks up the drive with African rhythms and slave dances like the Calenda and Chica, and finally includes a dash of native American dance with calls like “single file Indian style”. This is the dance form of working people...a barn dance. These people hadn't studied with a dancing master, so one person called or prompted the figures....circle, line, square, couple, and set dances are among its many forms. Both the dance and the music are cooperative efforts.