Wasn’t it great eight years ago to go Line dancing and see people of all ages having fun together? Three generations dancing together, with the young ones adding their youthful exuberance, while their grandparents did the same dance, but with smaller steps and less upper body movement. Well no change there then, you’ll still see seven-year-olds and septuagenarians on the same dance fl oor, and sometimes older and younger.
Of course, 100 magazine issues ago it was great fun, wasn’t it? We didn’t know our grapevine from our coaster step, our jazz box from our shuffl e. We went wrong quite a lot. We didn’t know then that you never go wrong, just dance a variation and we laughed at ourselves and with our fellow dancers.
But if we listen to the prophets of doom these days, the fun has gone out of Line dancing, we are all much too serious. Well, ********, is what I say. We instruct two absolute beginner classes each week and they laugh just as much as we did and sometimes more. Maybe we don’t laugh quite as much now because we are not as nervous as we were and don’t make as many mistakes as we did. But we, and lots of others, do laugh and have fun, at both class and socials, so if you’re
not laughing much, maybe you are not doing hard enough dances and making enough mistakes. Just a thought. My personal view is not much change there either.
The initial hype has undoubtedly gone, but like most new crazes, that was to be expected. After all you don’t see as many hula-hoops, yo- yos, or those clacky -balls on strings, these days do you? Eight years ago it wasn’t necessary to advertise a social. The word spread like wild fi re and people simply turned up. I can remember on several occasions arriving at a social half an hour before the start time, only to fi nd that there was nowhere left to sit.
And the number of people attending classes meant that not only was it impossible to
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see the instructor’s feet, but often the instructor was invisible if you’d not managed to get into the fi rst three rows.
Halcyon days indeed, at least for the instructors and promoters, some of whom raked in the cash and didn’t even need to buy many CDs. But for the rest of us, the rank and fi le dancers, it wasn’t ideal learning dances in village halls with 80 others, and no way to see what the instructor’s feet were doing. (It’s no wonder we laughed a lot, we had plenty of reasons to go wrong). Certainly smaller classes are better for the dancers, and not having to arrive half an hour and more, before the start of a social, is a defi nite advantage.
So some changes there but on balance better for the dancers, which is what it’s all about.
In the beginning Line dancing was an inexpensive pastime, and it still is. The fi rst class we attended, all those years ago, cost £2 for a 90-minute session, and the
fi rst CD social we attended – having spent ages plucking up the courage to go – cost £3. The price now? Well I can’t speak for everyone, but we charge £2 for a two-hour class and £3 for a four-hour CD social.
So in real terms the cost is only a fraction of what it was, despite all the increases in hall costs, CDs, etc. Change then, but now even cheaper. OK, so we have to mention the music, and of course that has changed considerably, hasn’t it? Eight years ago it was all Country, wasn’t it? Of course it was. Still no harm in checking the Linedancer archives to be sure. Let’s see, issue number 1 June 1996, featured cowgirls on the cover: We can now confess they weren’t actually dancers but two of the Linedancer sales staff Lesley Robinson and Sharon Murphy. Lesley has since moved on to other things but Sharon is still a leading light with the company. What dance scripts were printed?
Texas Twist – how Country can you get? – choreographed to Gonna Take A Lot Of River by the Oakridge Boys. Yep that’s Country. Hold on, there’s two other tracks detailed. Twistin The Night Away by Scooter Lee & In The Mood by Jive Bunny. Well that can’t be right can it? Must be a mistake.
OK so most of the music was Country, but even in our very fi rst issue, not 100 per cent Country. So maybe, just maybe, not quite as big a change as is generally believed.
The dress eight years ago was much more Western, but again not 100 per cent. Lots of us have never owned a fringed shirt in our lives, let alone matching his ‘n’ hers cowboy/girl outfi ts. Most people wore boots those days, but the alternative was “shopping shoes” as there were no dance shoes or trainers to buy. Of course you saw a lot of Stetsons then, but now the number of people wearing hats at a social of several hundred, can be counted on two hands.
So change in dress for some but not for everyone, and dare I suggest that those who have swapped thick canvas shirts for lightweight tops, and boots for shoes and trainers, have done so out of choice and practicality.
So to sum up, the past eight years and 100 Linedancer magazines have seen many changes but not quite as many or as much, as is generally believed. I welcome and embrace the vast majority of the changes and the stance that Linedancer has taken in these changes.
I believe that Line dancing is now even stronger than it was eight years ago. We have stood the test of time and despite the threat of splits in our movement we are still together as a friendly whole. I look forward to the next 100 issues.
Happy Birthday Linedancer!
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