There was a time that I, too, “used to turn my nose up at line dancing,” as Celina Meador posted recently in the group Line Dancers on Facebook. Like Celina, however, I’ve not only learned to love line dancing but even started teaching it, spurred on when things went virtual back in 2020. My first significant experience was helping Joanie “Li’l Biscuit” Brown choreograph a remarkable line dance she created called The Gator, which we honed and performed with our Zydeco troupe at the 2011 Folklife Festival.
In her post, Meador asserts that line dancing “builds foundations that make partner dancing even stronger” and writes:
“Line dance teaches you footwork precision, balance, and how to use your weight correctly—all things that are essential when you’re in hold with a partner. And partner dancing, in return, teaches you the art of moving with another person—listening through touch, communicating with subtle hand signals, and trusting someone else’s rhythm. When you combine the two, you become a dancer who is not only confident in your own body but also able to share the dance floor in harmony with someone else. It’s no longer about one style being ‘better’ than the other, but about how they fuel each other.”
See you on the dance floor —Sean Donovan