Ken's Classic Trax - Blog Post 015

What Is Sequence Dancing?

I imagine, if you have been to any sort of dance class at all, you will have been taught a series of steps for any particular dance so you can get around the floor. Imagine everyone doing the same sequence of steps at the same time, and that’s (more or less) Sequence Dancing. The best sequence dances, when well done, can be very beautiful and satisfying.

With very few exceptions, sequence dances are 16 bars of music long, and the music played for sequence dances is in 16 bar phrases so that it fits. The sequence ends so that it leads into the start again in a loop, and it just repeats until the music ends. Sometimes less informed DJs might play music which does not have the appropriate phrasing, and that is likely to confuse dancers who dance to the music rather than just go through their routine by numbers.

The benefits of sequence dancing are:

There is no floor-craft required, other than to keep to your place in the ring of couples around the floor;
There is no lead necessary, because gentleman and lady both know the steps and what order they come in (but lead is useful when the lady doesn’t know the steps);
It is excellent practice for the basic (and sometimes not-so-basic) ballroom and Latin figures which make up each sequence, which can then be applied to the non-sequence dances;
If in doubt, just follow the next couple in front.

Sequence dancing is thus very good for beginners to Ballroom Dancing.

However, there are also very considerable barriers to beginners wishing to take up sequence dancing:

There are literally thousands of different sequence dances, so it is difficult to know which ones to learn;
Go to a regular sequence dance with regular sequence dancers, and there is a good chance none of the dances they do on a particular day will be repeated next time;
Learn the repertoire at one sequence dance group and there is a fair chance it will not be the same as the repertoire at another sequence dance group.

This can be, regrettably, very off-putting to newcomers. The only answer is not to be put off, have a go, be persistent, go again the next week and keep trying – you will get it in the end, and nobody will mind in the mean time (or if they do, go find somewhere more welcoming).

Popular Sequence

The answer to there being thousands of sequence scripts, for beginners and casual sequence dancers, is to stick mainly to the core “popular” sequence dances. This is a small collection of 20 (or so) sequences which get played almost everywhere, particularly dances described as “Popular Sequence” (but might be considered “old hat¨ by serious sequence dancers).

Curiously enough, even the “Popular Sequence” repertoire varies a bit, geographically. For example, more sequence dances are well known as standard around Bristol, than are well known around Bournemouth, and others are known around Weymouth.

The Internet has democratised sequence dancing: the scripts used to be closely guarded by copyright (and still are), but there are now many videos on YouTube which demonstrate the dances and can be learned from. If you are keen and want to know how a dance should really be done (not just how YouTubers think it should be done), it is worth setting up a pay-as-you-go account at the Brockbank Lane script service (contact them for details – see “non member services”).

Dances which keep ballroom hold (typically Waltzes, Tangos, Foxtrots) and Rumbas are usually very good for an inexperienced lady with an experienced man – they can be led (assuming the lady can follow), so the lady doesn’t need to know the dance. These are indicated in the list below by “*”.

The following is my suggested Popular Sequence set, listed in order of preference:

Square Tango * (“My First Sequence Dance”, very basic and simple to get started with)

Saunter Together

Rumba One *

Waltz Catherine *

Sindy Swing

Balmoral Blues

Melody Foxtrot *

Mayfair Quickstep

Queen of Hearts Rumba *

Sally-Anne Cha Cha Cha

Tango Serida *

Mambo Magic

Blue Angel Rumba *

Saunter Reve

Emmerdale Waltz

Alpine Stroll

Viennese Swing

Tina Tango *

White City Waltz

“Party” Dances

Sometimes the occasion demands more of a party atmosphere, and party dances encourage joining in and mixing. All dancing is supposed to be fun of course, but these inject the additional element of the unusual, and are therefore more fun and great for group bonding (but not so great for working on technique!).

Some of the standard sequences can be made “progressive”, where, for example, at some convenient point in the sequence, the gentleman moves forward to dance with the next lady along (or some similar variation). Dances good for this include Sindy Swing, Rumba One, & Barn Dance Jive. Party Samba is a dance with up to 8 people progressing around the dance floor in line abreast, and exchanging places within the line – join in and anyone would soon get the hang of it.

Any of the dances which use unusual rhythms or steps, outside the normal ballroom / latin / old time canon, could be considered “fun” dances. Mambo Magic and Alpine Stroll (in the list above) might be considered in that category, but we could also throw in Ria Bachata, Caribbean Calypso, Sweet Bay Salsa, & Argentine Stroll.

I can’t conclude this section without mentioning Mayfair Quickstep. Once upon a time, Mayfair was a perfectly normal sequence quickstep at perfectly normal quickstep tempo (48-50 bars per minute), with proper quickstep technique. That is, until the Eurovision Song Contest went to Dublin in 1994! The intermission entertainment was some Irish step dancing, which took the world by storm and became Riverdance. Some bright spark realised you could dance Mayfair to the tune (despite it being at 59bpm), if you drop any pretence at technique. Now nobody would dream of dancing it at 50bpm... Mayfair Quickstep has become a party dance.

KCT Dances

At social dances I present, typically there will be a selection from the “popular sequence” list, plus a few other sequence and party dances according to what is currently doing the rounds. At the time of writing, in addition to those mentioned above, these include Woodside Waltz, Platinum Waltz, and Black Pearl Tango.