There is very little information about how line dancing came about available on the internet. According to various websites line dancing is thought to have evolved from folk dancing and contra dancing, and most recently from disco. Line dancing became more popular after two John Travolta movies: Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Urban Cowboy (1980). However, there were already at least five dances associated with country and western music in the early 1970’s. Line dancing became more mainstream in 1992 after Billy Ray Cyrus' hit Achy Breaky Heart hit radio stations.

The types of dances taught and performed depends on the instructor’s preferences and the students’ skill level. Some instructors may prefer to teach local dances and some may prefer to teach dances choreographed by famous national and international choreographers. Instructors may prefer to teach simple dances if they don’t have a core group of dancers that dance regularly and have advanced in their skill set. If the instructor does not attend dance workshops or does not keep up with the popular choreographers they may not be interested in teaching the popular dances; however, if they do keep up with what is currently popular then a dancer can travel to another city, state, or country and be able to participate at another country bar or dance studio.

 

Before line dancing took off in the 1990's, there were only a handful of dances and they were performed over and over to different songs. Sometimes the beat didn’t match the dance perfectly the way it does now. In a club in California during the 1980’s a dancers danced form many years and may have only learned about a dozen dances at this time. During the mid-2000’s dances slowly started to be matched up with the music more using restarts and tags. Also with the growth in technology anyone could choreograph a dance and post it on Kickit, Copperknob, and YouTube. Which means it's possible for anyone to choreograph a dance, post it, and it could be taught and danced in any part of the world.

 

At a country western bar there may be a particular dance for every song. In some places they may perform a particular dance to multiple songs which makes it easier for newcomers to follow along. However, this isn’t very interesting to someone who likes a challenge. There are still places where they may not perform advanced dances because there is not a core group of dancers for various reasons: people may migrate seasonally and don’t keep up with new dances, or perhaps they may not be interested in devoting time and energy to learning complicated dances.

 

Line Dancing and Couples Dancing

 

According to the accounts of several long time line dancers, line dancing grew in popularity as an offshoot of couples dancing, which is also called partner or social dancing. Couples dancing differs from line dancing because they are done with a partner and can be likened to ballroom dancing. Some of the country versions are the East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Waltz, and Two Step. Although people were already line dancing in the 1980’s, it was during the 1990’s that it started to diversify as well-known dancers such as Jo Thompson and Scott Blevins took an interest in choreographing line dances. Their backgrounds in various types of dance such as ballroom etc. helped lead to the development of more complex dances.

 

We can observe the development of line dancing as it branched off from couples dancing events. One well known event is the UCWDC Worlds Country Dance World Championship. Originally the Worlds events were geared toward couple dancing. Then the some of the prominent dancers began to focus attention on capturing the singles allowing them participate. In 2002, Masters in Line was formed. This was a dance events company that specialized in competitive and social line dance events. It was composed of a team of the best choreographers, including Rachael McEnaney, another beloved choreographer and dancer. Line dances also started becoming more complex as choreographers developed line dances to meet the specifications of line dance choreography competitions. Masters in Line developed more challenging dances and promoted line dancing. Events took place all over the world including Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, and across Europe.