Canadian Barn Dance

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

CANADIAN BARN DANCE (M16) Round The Room
Round the room dance, couples facing anticlockwise (Ladies on partners right)

1- 4 Starting with outside foot walk forward for three steps and hop, walk backwards for three steps and hop
5- 8 Skip sideways away from partner (Men towards the centre, Ladies outwards) for two steps and clap, return to partner in waltz hold.
9-12 Skip sideways to the Man's left for two steps and back
13-16 Polka anticlockwise round the room

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

Dance Notes

There is also a progressive version with the following modification:

5-6 M travel diagonally backward while moving away from partner, L diagonally forward.

7-8 M travel diagonally forward to new partner, L diagonally backward. New partner is L originally behind partner for the M, M originally in front of partner for the L.

Dance Instruction Videos

Canadian Barn Dance - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building.

The term "barn dance" is usually associated with family-oriented or community-oriented events, usually for people who do not normally dance. The caller will, therefore, generally use easy dances so that everyone can join in.

A barn dance can be a ceilidh, with traditional Irish or Scottish dancing, and people unfamiliar with either format often confuse the two terms. However, a barn dance can also feature square dancing, contra dancing, English country dance, dancing to country and western music, or any other kind of dancing, often with a live band and a caller.

Canadian Barn, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Barn Dance article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Relic38 Creative Commons Licence 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Additional search terms: Ceilidh Dance, Canadien.

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