Country & Western Dancing - Texas Style
I prefer to think that if you can't hold on to that cute lady when you're scooting around the dance floor in a counter clockwise direction with your hat looking like its traveling on a smooth pond without bouncing then you're not really doing your basic Country & Western Dancing even if it's to a country song. Of course the Waltz would an exception on the hat part and the Texas swing or jitterbug is a spot dance which makes traveling counter clockwise on the dance floor impractical.
Roots
Country & Western has many roots. Many, but not all, of the settlers to the old texas west were from England, Scandinavia, western and central Europe. These cultural areas influnced the evolution of Country & Western Dancing. The is the Polka, Waltz, and Two Step.
Polka
The Polka has a German influence. There were numerous communities of German and Swedish settlers in central Texas in what is often referred to now as the Texas Hill Country. Several of these areas kept their heritage in the forfront by having bilingual church services and ethnic festivals conversing in their native tongue as late as the mid 1950s.
Your Basic Two Step
The basic Two-Step finds it's roots in the fox trot. There are probably as many variations to the footwork and how you embrace yor partner in the two step as there are dancers. But the basic rules on direction and the hat still apply.
Line Dancing
Line Dancing is a part of Country & Western Dancing that make this activity available to everyone. Those that don't or choose not to have dance partners get an opportunity to be on the dance floor also. It is where you can have an individual style or be insync with the group.
Other Dancing
You cannot leave out other cultural influnces when you talk about Country & Western Dancing. In the central Texas area if you've gotten around any at all have seen the "Chicken Dance" It serves a similar function as line dances. The children seem to come out on the floor for this one. It truely is a family affair.
TO THE LADIES