Danse en ligne

A line dance is a choreographed dance in which a group of people dance along to a repeating sequence of steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. These lines usually face all in the same direction, or less commonly face each other. Unlike circle dancing, line dancers are not in physical contact with each other. Each dance is usually associated with, and named for, a specific song, such as the Macarena or the Electric Slide (associated with the 1982 single "Electric Boogie") are a few of the line dances that have consistently remained part of modern American culture for years. Line dancing is practiced and learned in country-western dance bars, social clubs, dance clubs and ballrooms. It is sometimes combined on dance programs with other forms of country-western dance, such as two-step, western promenade dances, and as well as western-style variants of the waltz, polka and swing. Line dances have accompanied many popular music styles since the early 1970s including pop, swing, rock and roll, disco, Latin (salsa suelta), rhythm and blues and jazz. The term "modern line dance" is now used in many line dance clubs around the world to indicate dance styles that combine many genres, including pop, Latin, Irish, big band and country. Rather than wearing Western-style clothing or boots, participants dress in casual clothing and often wear dance trainers. The precise origins of line dancing are not entirely clear. Of the confusion, music historian Christy Lane has stated that "If you were to ask 10 people with some knowledge of when line dancing began, you'd probably get 10 different answers". By and large, the growth and popularity of line dancing has mainly been tied to country and western music. It is likely that at least some of the steps and terminology used in modern line dancing originated from the dances brought to North America by European immigrants in the 1800s. Throughout the 1860s–1890s, the style that would later be known as country–western dance began to emerge from these dances.