Hi,
I understand Country & Western music and dnacing is very popular in England. Is this true? I realize Madonna has moved to England so I'm wondering is that what inspired her latest album and cool country "look"/music?

Country and Western Line dancing is popular in England and most parts of Europe. Couples dancing is not as prominent. Not sure about the Madonna thing though. Oh and for the record. Even though Line dancing is mostly country western. In europe, they dance to mostly other formats of music. IMHO, it is not what influenced Madonna.
Dancergirl3

What are the most popular country and western line dances? I go to some social dance places and am intrigued by the number of people who do line dancing! I see sometimes on the Country Television station features about line dancing, with elaborate costumes so just wondering if there are popular line dances out there now, and their names so I can try to find out locally if anyone gives lessons in them.

Well that is hard to say. The Line dances that are popular in the UCWDC are not necessarly popular in local areas. It is hard to say. Your best bet would to be go to the places in your area where they teach line dancing and check things out. You can also get step sheet off the web. Just do a search for line dance step sheets. Also check out a UCWDC event for the latest and greatest dances. All of the events have major line dance choregraphers and competitors.
dancergirl3

I started as a Western dancer, then to WCS, then to ballroom with some Argentine tango. I am amazed at the different personalities that are attracted to each type of dance. The Western dancers are mostly laid back and don't take many lessons especially in technique but they are fun loving people. The WCS people are also fun loving, party people but they are more interested in learning. The ballroom and tango groups are mostly professional people (since they are the only ones that afford the lessons!) that are focused on technique. The interesting thing I find is that people may bounce between Western and Swing or Swing and Ballroom but Tango is almost exclusive.

I like them all and, depending on my mood, I do the different dances. When people realize that I have a range of dance knowledge, they are surprised indicating that people should only be into one-two forms of dance. That's too limiting for me.

Tango and WCS are the most creative for the woman I think. They allow the follow to embellish or syncopate without waiting to be lead. That's fun to do at times.

Isn't great that we have all these dance venues to chose from!

So, on why the ballroom world might look down on CW:
I have my own story. The only CW performers I've seen did a show at a college Ballroom competition. They were supposably a top CW couple and they performed two nights in a row. and the general consensus from the crowd by the end was that country western was for people with big smiles, cowboy outfits and not a lot of dance technique.
So I guess if you came up to someone who's only experience was that show and said you're a competitive country western dancer, they'd probably look down their nose at you..
Which is not fair, but I doubt it's an isolated incident. You win and lose respect one show at a time.

There are lots of bad ballroom dancers out there that are build as top ballroom dancers also. I remember attending a country comp. and during the variety show they had some ballroom dancers do a demo. They also said that they were top ballroom champions. I couldn't see how because they had less technique than some of our country dancers. You should reconsider your take on country dancing. I know of a lot of top competitors that started in ballroom and have a ton of technique. I also know of some couples that started in country and are now competiting with a partner in 10 dance and are making top 6 in all the competitions that they go to. Each form of dancing has its own good and bad top competitors. Country has two of its top couples that have gone on to dance in the braodway musical Swing. One couple on braodway and one on tour. Many top country couples compete at the best of swing. I myself take from some of the best in ballroom to improve my country and swing. I have taken from Michelle Officer, Stephan Champaign, Mark Brock, Glennis Dee, Diana Mcdonald and the list goes on and on. I know that I can dance better than some of the poeple I have seen at ballroom comps. So don't tell me that country people don't have technique. I also know of other poeple that take from ballroom instructors every week. You people should check out some of the bigger country comps before turning up your noses. Just because you spend more money on lessons and comps does not make you a better dancer.

I have to weigh in here because I've been actively competing in both ballroom (pro-am) and country (am/am) for 2 years and have attended enough comps in both styles to know what I'm talking about.

A great deal of the misperception that country western dancers aren't good dancers comes from ignorance or lack of exposure to high level country western dancing. Like a previous poster said, there are many not-so-good dancers in both ballroom and country that are hyped as being much better than they actually are.

But anyone who believes that country western dancers have no technique is all wet. My amateur partner and I just competed last weekend in the New Orleans Mardi Gras Country Dance comp, one of the biggest & best in the country. As usual, I saw some absolutely incredible dancing as well as some very mediocre dancing. I defy the average ballroom dancer (or even the above-average one) to duplicate the intricacies of the turn and spin technique of an "average" CW dancer. Turning, spinning and spotting are emphasized in CW because you have to do lots of it in 2-step, the classic CW dance. My turn and spin technique has actually deteriorated since I've been doing mostly ballroom, because there is no ballroom or latin dance that is comparable to 2-step in terms of the demands made on the lady to turn and spin multiple times, with clean feet and remaining standing and smiling and looking balanced.

But that's not the only area in which country dancers excel. Competitive country dancers are taught "open" routines for their first competition and showmanship and presentation is emphasized from day one in their training. In fact, this aspect of country vs. ballroom is probably the one I have in the past taken issue with most, that is, that country western training seems to emphasize flashy moves over solid technique in the early stages of dancing. However, I believe that as the student progresses, the country western dancer ends up looking more at ease and "better" on the dance floor than many ballroom students because the CW student becomes accustomed to doing long, complex routines in the early days of their dancing.

It does seem to be a "backwards" approach. In ballroom, a student would never be given "open" material while he or she is still learning basics. But I've found that the CW dancers with good instruction end up having good body movement, turn technique, and partnering skills after about two years of hard work. About the same time it takes a ballroom student to "look good."

I love both styles. If I had to give one up, it would be country. But I would encourage anyone who thinks country dancers can't really dance to attend a competition like the Mardi Gras before making pronouncements out of ignorance.

JLyn

Now, I have not noticed this in my locale; the ballroom world being critical of C&W.

I do ballroom actively and it was in C&W that I got my start into dancing.