Why Doesn't Line Dancing Have a Forum Here?

[rbazsz]

Line dancing has become so popular worldwide that I am surprised that there isn't a forum devoted to that topic. Is there a reason why?

I began taking a line dance class last year and got really hooked on it. There are many good things about line dancing so I will list just a few of them:



It's great exercise.
Line dance is very popular worldwide. Do a youtube search for "Wakira" or "Hustle" and you will see what I mean.
Many moves cross over to ballroom and freestyle.
It's easy to find video tutorials online for the popular dances.
Unlike ballroom it's easy to practice by yourself.
There is no hassling with partners.
Clothes are more casual than ballroom.

[waltzgirl]

Because this is a partner dance forum?

[jennyisdancing]

Because this is a partner dance forum?

Okay, sure...but I don't really see line dancing fitting in with a ballet/jazz oriented forum site. Line dance is more of a social activity rather than a technical dance. It's fun. I wouldn't mind there being a sub-forum on here somewhere.

[rbazsz]

Because this is a partner dance forum?

Well maybe, but in my opinion that FAQs for this site are somewhat contradictory. For example:

2. The Dance Forums aims to provide quality information about partner dancing of all kinds in a friendly and supportive environment.

3. All dance related topics and perspectives are welcome and we encourage a dynamic environment with debates, news, and personal stories.

However you look at it, line dance is a related topic. If #3 is true, then I believe line dancing is a large and significant enough of a sub topic to deserve it's own section.

[nucat78]

Talk to the mods - there's a section for doing that privately.

[opendoor]

Because this is a partner dance forum?

Formally you are absolutely right. But located in a forum for jazz-, formation- or hiphop dancing, there would actually be much less cross discussing and informational exchange between the styles.

[Joe]

Well rbazsz, since this is the General Dance Discussion forum, you are free to start your own thread(s) on whatever line dancing topics you like. People will either post or not post, and you will have whatever amount of discussion your threads deserve.

[fascination]

it can certainly have it's own thread...but, since this is a partner site, it won't be having it's own sub-forum or category(as with ballet and any other related and beneficial form of dance that isn't partner dance)...but feel free to start a thread...the degree of feeback you get will probably reflect that most people here aren't big into it

[danceronice]

I was going to say what Joe and fasc did--start a thread in here (where you're most likely to get people from all the other subforums looking), and see what result you get. That way you'll know how much interest there is.

[Spitfire]

Hasn't this been covered in the C&W section in the past? Since it's generally associated with C&W music.

[rbazsz]

Hasn't this been covered in the C&W section in the past? Since it's generally associated with C&W music.

Most people have the perception that line dancing is C&W. Perhaps that's a good reason to argue for it's own forum. In the U.S. C&W is definitely the major format for line dancing but it's hardly true thoughout the rest of the world, and even in the U.S. their are pockets of line dance that have nothing to do with C&W.

It could even be argued that there are line dances that come very close to partner dancing.

If any of you doubt how international it has become, do a google video search on these words: wakira line dance

[pygmalion]

I agree. Back when DF was kicking off the C&W forum, I did a ton of online research on line-dancing and was surprised to find how popular it is, in various forms, C&W and otherwise, all over the world.

Every so often, this question comes up, rbazsz. Why not a forum for this dance form or the other? Why just partner? wg answered the question. This is a partner dance forum, which is not to say that other dance forms are less than partner dance or being left out, but that DF is focused on a particular genre. Just like with most successful businesses, a focus and a mission were chosen early on. Partner dance is DF's core competency.

ETA: And the other thing implied above is that starting a forum or sub-forum is not as simple as saying. "I want a new forum. Voila!" It takes a lot of work to start conversations, feed topics and eventually attract enough traffic to make a forum worthwhile. It's not nearly as easy as it looks.

Bottom line. nucat was right. If you're really passionate about this, talk to the mods.

[fascination]

why don't you start a thread on it and see how much traffic it generates? and if you know poeple who want to discuss it, send them to that thread...if it takes off then I am sure people will be happy to consider it

[Spitfire]

Most people have the perception that line dancing is C&W. Perhaps that's a good reason to argue for it's own forum. In the U.S. C&W is definitely the major format for line dancing but it's hardly true thoughout the rest of the world, and even in the U.S. their are pockets of line dance that have nothing to do with C&W.

It could even be argued that there are line dances that come very close to partner dancing.

If any of you doubt how international it has become, do a google video search on these words: wakira line dance

Oh yes, that's true. The Macarena and Electric Slide come to mind here and numerous others I'm sure. But in the past that's where I've seen threads on line dance posted on this forum.

[Steve Pastor]

We recently had one member argue quite successfully that Folk Dancing should be welcome here. (Apparently this site is known for its civility, probably for good reason.)
I'm quite a line dancer myself. It's what got me started in dancing, and my favorite night is still "line dance night" at the country western place I go to. (We partner dance that night, too.)

Even Argentine Tango has its chacarera.

BTW, I really like that Shakira video, Waka Waka.

Fact is that CW line dancing has embraced dances to many different types of music.

And, our CW section is currently (and pretty much always HAS been) pretty low volume. Of course I'm still "the new guy" around here. LOL

[fascination]

we could also arguably have a zumba thread (speaking of waka waka)...as there are many members who teach it or go to it...:) we would likely only make something it's own sub-forum if there were so many active and varied threads on it that it became unwieldy elsewhere and needed to be gathered

[nucat78]

The Macarena and Electric Slide come to mind here and numerous others I'm sure.

There's a samba LD done occasionally at socials and a hip-hop thing that I can't recall the name of.

[Steve Pastor]

I can think of two:
Hip Hop
Cowboy Hip Hop (which is the less challenging of the two).

[fascination]

cupid shuffle,

[nucat78]

cupid shuffle,

There ya go...

Wait, is that the one where the guy calls out "two hops this time", "criss-cross", and "everybody Charlie Brown"?

Well, CS is definitely one HH-like LD.

[Steve Pastor]

Wait, is that the one where the guy calls out "two hops this time", "criss-cross", and "everybody Charlie Brown"?
That would be the one. Got lots of play at the CW place.

[Spitfire]

There's a samba LD done occasionally at socials and a hip-hop thing that I can't recall the name of.

This seems to actually be more popular at the socials here than the dance itself; most people do the line dance to Samba music.

[nucat78]

Ok, I Googled it - CS is the one that has lyrics: "To the left, to the left, to the left, the left, the left, to the right, etc; now walk it by yourself..."

I was thinking of the cha cha slide: "Slide to the left; take it back y'all; one hop this time..."

[fascination]

to the left to the left is either cupid or waka waka...both have that line...walkin by yourself is cupid

[fascination]

That would be the one. Got lots of play at the CW place.
cha cha slide

[pygmalion]

Ok, I Googled it - CS is the one that has lyrics: "To the left, to the left, to the left, the left, the left, to the right, etc; now walk it by yourself..."

I was thinking of the cha cha slide: "Slide to the left; take it back y'all; one hop this time..."


Nice avatar, nucat. Is that your demented husky?

[nucat78]

Nice avatar, nucat. Is that your demented husky?

No, but the pic looks exactly like my dog. This pic had a nicer pose than any pix I've taken.

[pygmalion]

@nucat: Nice. :-)

In terms of starting a new LD forum, from my own experience, I think it might be difficult to come up with enough unique topics to get the conversation going. IIRC, when I was researching the topic, I found quite a few sites that list dance names and step patterns. And there were some sites from studios and such. But I didn't see a lot of discussion groups. (This may have changed. It's been a few years.)

I honestly can't think of a lot of things to discuss, although I could be wrong. Line dance patterns, variations, places, instructors, celebrities, competitions, technique, costumes, music/songs, etiquette, events/meet-ups. This is what pops into my head.

rbazsz, if you really want some LD discussion, why not start a thread or two on one of the topics above (or something else you can think of) and see what happens? The worst that can happen is that threads you start get no response. That's kind of ego-challenging, but you get used to it after a while. Or at least I did. *grin* And bear in mind that it takes a while. :cool:

ETA: What can really help is to have two or three people who are deeply passionate about a topic involved in discussion that other people can lurk and observe for a while. So, if you have a couple of line-dance-crazy friends who are computer literate, invite them to join you and get the ball rolling.

Best of luck! :-D

[Joe]

Apparently this site is known for its civility, probably for good reason.
That's because there are a cornucopia of mods and they are always ready with the smackdown stick if you get out of line. :p

[fascination]

bats eyes innocently...no idea what you are talking about :)

[rbazsz]

ETA: And the other thing implied above is that starting a forum or sub-forum is not as simple as saying. "I want a new forum. Voila!" It takes a lot of work to start conversations, feed topics and eventually attract enough traffic to make a forum worthwhile. It's not nearly as easy as it looks.

Bottom line. nucat was right. If you're really passionate about this, talk to the mods.

I doubt starting forums is difficult for a site like this. They probably have templates so it's very much just point and click.

The important question is whether it helps the website as a whole to discuss line dancing as an individual topic. I think it would be good for them if the goal is to increase traffic to the site.

[rbazsz]

@nucat: Nice. :-)

rbazsz, if you really want some LD discussion, why not start a thread or two on one of the topics above (or something else you can think of) and see what happens? The worst that can happen is that threads you start get no response. That's kind of ego-challenging, but you get used to it after a while. Or at least I did. *grin* And bear in mind that it takes a while. :cool:

ETA: What can really help is to have two or three people who are deeply passionate about a topic involved in discussion that other people can lurk and observe for a while. So, if you have a couple of line-dance-crazy friends who are computer literate, invite them to join you and get the ball rolling.

Best of luck! :-D

By doing some text searches I have seen quite a few posts and threads about line dancing on this site.

[pygmalion]

Creating the infrastructure for a forum is probably not complicated. I don't know, since I never did that. Dance Mentor did all the behind-the-scenes forum building for DF, back in the day. You may well be right that it's relatively easy. OTOH, maybe not. I have no idea what adding another forum would take, IT resource-wise. *shrug*

That's not what I meant by forum-building, though. I'm coming from the web content/intellectual property angle. I meant that, IME, it's a common misconception that a forum can go from no conversation to flowing conversation easily and that, if you provide a framework, people will automatically join in and talk. That's not the case, IME. It takes months and months of grunt work, research, starting conversation stems, careful moderating, (hopefully) a core of dedicated, passionate people, in some cases linking to other sites and a bunch more stuff, including a lot of time investment on somebody's part. It looks easy, but it's not. *shrug*

[SDsalsaguy]

I doubt starting forums is difficult for a site like this. They probably have templates so it's very much just point and click.

The important question is whether it helps the website as a whole to discuss line dancing as an individual topic. I think it would be good for them if the goal is to increase traffic to the site.
While the staff welcome any and all feedback and suggestions, those need to be directed to the staff mailbox. As per Guideline #5, "Issues concerning moderation will NOT be discussed in the open forum," so I am now locking this thread accordingly.