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If you have other questions contact us.
- What is Round Dancing? This has a short answer and a very long answer.
- Short
- Ballroom dancing by couples who are dancing in a circle, with all the couples dancing the same dance steps (synchronized) to
the calling of a round dance cuer (prompter, akin to a square dance caller).
- Long (but not as long as it should be)
- A circle of couples dancing with all the couples dancing the same dance steps (synchronized). The rhythms that are danced
by round dancers include: the 2-step, waltz, fox-trot, quickstep, cha-cha, rumba, bolero, jive, west coast swing, tango, samba, mambo, merengue, slo-2-step, and others.
Round dancing rhythms and figures (dance steps) are rated by phases (phase I (considered easy) through phase VI (considered difficult)). Round dancing is a not-for-competition activity (the competition is within one’s self to learn and improve their own performance). Round dancing began as folk dancing and was very simple utilizing only one or two rhythms and was very repetitious which allowed the dancers to easily memorize each round dance routine. As the activity developed and more rhythms and steps added the music became much more interesting and choreography was created to match the complexity of the music. This made it more difficult to memorize routines and led to the emergence of cuers to “call out” the dance steps to the dancers. The “circle” of dancers can include as few as one couple of dancers to as many dancers as can fill the dance hall.
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- Where can I round dance?
- There are two major venues for round dancing.
- Round Dance Clubs are venues where the only activity is round dancing.
Each club will specialize in the levels and rhythms that allow their members and guests to dance the majority of dance routines that are put on the dance program.
- Square Dance Clubs are venues where the dancers can participate on both square and round dancing. By tradition the round
dances performed as square dance clubs are the 2-step and waltz rhythms at the phase II level, however, as time progresses additional rhythms and levels of round dancing are being incorporated into
square dance clubs. Like the round dance clubs - different clubs have different specialties - some will be more tradition-bound to the phase II 2-step and some will be more progressive.
- Whether a square or round dance venue, the locations of dances vary: church fellowship halls, recreation centers, civic centers,
fraternal homes, and occasionally halls specially built for square and round dancing.
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- What is Square Dancing?
- Square dancing, properly called “Modern Western Square Dancing”, is a dance format where eight (8) dancers perform dance steps as a
group.
The four couples are arranged in a square (set) pattern at the beginning of the dance set (a la “square”) although the dancers are rarely arranged in the square set pattern after the music has started. There are several “levels” of square dancing called programs. These programs are:
- Mainstream: 67 calls (dance figures) make up this program,
- Plus: 20 calls
- Advanced A1 / A2: A1, 48 calls: A2, 37 calls
- Challenge C1 /C2 C3: many calls in these programs
- The vast majority of square dancers dance the mainstream and plus programs. This is especially true in the Dallas/Fort Worth
area. Most of the square dance clubs here dance the mainstream program with either one or two tips of plus program calls.
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- What is a tip?
- A Round Dance Tip at a round dance club is usually a set of 6 or 7 dances (about 30 minutes) followed by a short break.
- A Round Dance Tip at a square dance is usually a set of 2 dances which is done in between square dance tips.
- A Square Dance Tip is usually a 10 to 15 minute set of square dancing.
During the first part of the tip the caller calls “hash” (freeform, extemporaneous calls to usually instrumental music with a strong beat); this part is often called patter or a hoedown. The second part of the tip us usually a singing call which is called to a recognizable piece of music; part of the calling will be the actual calling of dance steps and part will be singing the lyrics to the music.
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- What are the rhythms used in round dancing?
- What are the levels of difficulty in round dancing?
- Round Dancing is a living and evolving activity.
There are 14 rhytyms in round dancing (shown below). There are six levels of round dancing - these levels are called phases (indicated in roman numerals). Round dancers can partake of one or more of the following rhythms and their levels:
- 2-Step - I-III
- Bolero - III-V
- Cha-Cha - III-VI
- Fox-Trot - III-Vi
- Jive - III - VI
- Mambo - III-V
- Paso Doble - IV-VI
- Quickstep - III-VI
- Rumba - III-VI
- Samba - IV-VI
- Slow 2-Step - III-VI
- Tango - III-VI
- Waltz - I-VI
- West Coast Swing - IV-VI
- Keep in mind that all the rhythms have a beginning level. For most (as you can see) the beginner level is at phase III.
This is because round dancing is quite tradition-based and the 2-step and waltz were the only rhythms in round dancing for many, many years. If may not seem logical but many of the beginner phase III figures are in fact easier than the phase II figures.
- When a new rhythm or dance figure is brought into the activity it is usually introduced at the highest levels of round dancing.
This way the most experienced dancers have a chance to determine the suitability of the rhythm to round dancing. After a while the new rhythm is either well received or rejected by the dance community. If accepted, the rhythm and its figures are reviewed and standardized. As the rhythm becomes more widely accepted additional figures will be introduced and the figures will be placed in the appropriate phase level.
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If you have other questions contact us.
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