BROAD TERMS
| BUSH DANCES | The Australian Folk Revival that began in the 1950s led to ‘bush bands’ being formed. When they played for dances such events were often called ‘bush dances’. Ironically quite a few of the dances in their repertoires had rarely if ever been danced in the Australian bush. Nevertheless, the term has remained in use. |
| COLONIAL DANCES | A term used in Australian dance circles to refer to dances that were popular in the Australian colonies before they federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. In practice the term is often extended to encompass dances up until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914.
Modern ‘colonial dancing’ grew out of the bush dancing scene, but added some more challenging dances to the easily learnt bush dances. |
| FOLK DANCES | Dances that are identified with specific national groups. Post World War Two ‘folk dances’ from quite a mix of nations were taught in Australian Primary Schools. In addition, the influx of people migrating to Australia from Europe after the War led to public events featuring displays of a variety of their dances becoming common. |
| HERITAGE DANCES * | Dances deliberately revived from earlier eras (and maintained by dance groups) as opposed to the popular social dances of the present. |
| * ‘MODERN’ DANCES COMPOSED IN OLDER STYLES | Such is the attraction of the heritage dances that a great many new ones that mimic their styles have been composed. Some of them have become very popular in their own right. |
SPECIFIC TYPES OF DANCES
| CONTRA | Contra Dancing is a form of American folk dance in which the dancers form a set of two parallel lines which run the length of the hall. Each dance consists of a sequence of moves that ends with couples having progressed one position up or down the set. As the sequence is repeated, a couple will eventually dance with every other couple in the set. – An extract from ‘A Contra Dance Primer’ on http://www.hamiltoncontra.ca/primer.html
AN EXAMPLE Rocket City Romp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5sbQA4_1ew |
| ENGLISH COUNTRY aka PLAYFORD DANCES | English Country Dances are the recreational dances that evolved from the older Morris and Sword dances that were derived from ritual dances (e.g. fertility and sacrificial rites) of pagan times. They have also come to be called Playford Dances after music publisher John Playford, whose book of them was first published in 1651. Further editions appeared until 1728. For the full story see Hugh Stewart’s ‘What are Playford dances?’ at http://round.soc.srcf.net/playford/ AN EXAMPLE Apley House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpOpkEx-tfs |
| IRISH SET DANCING | Four couples arrange themselves in a square to dance—the term ‘set’ refers both to the eight people in formation and to the dance itself. When the music begins they dance a variety of intricate moves and steps. One set can last from ten minutes to half an hour. The dancing is divided into separate sections called figures—when a figure is finished the music stops and the dancers remain in place waiting for it to resume. A set usually has from three to six figures, each one different but always danced in the same sequence. – An extract from Bill Lynch’s article ‘The Joy of Sets’ accessed via a link on this webpage – https://sets.ie/ AN EXAMPLE The Corofin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZw9IrQCdeQ |
| SCOTTISH COUNTRY | Scottish country dancing is social dancing. It is usually danced in groups of two, three or four couples, facing each other in lines or squares. It has its roots in the Highland Reels of Scotland and the 17th century dances of Europe. Together with its English counterpart, Scottish country dance has helped to spawn ceilidh dancing, contra and square dancing.
Quick-time jigs and reels will be familiar to many people. These dances involve a light skipping step, where the dancers move through a series of “figures” – Crossing, circling, reeling and turning in a pattern variously involving the “dancing couple” or their set. – An extract from the ‘What is SCD?’ link in the sidebar of http://rscds.org.au/ Postie’s Jig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G3gOA-oG5c |
