Regional Folk Traditions

Each of these is a specific living folk tradition. Country line dancing is the choreographed, partnerless line-dance culture of country/western music (rising sharply in the 1990s), distinct from country/western partner dances. Modern Western Square Dance (MWSD, 'club' square dance) is the mid-20th-century caller-led club movement—standardized programs and a live caller—descended from but distinct from historic American square dance. Sevillanas is the Andalusian folk couple dance of the Seville fair, related to but not the same as flamenco. Klezmer dance is the celebratory dance tradition of Ashkenazi Jewish life (sher, freylekhs, bulgar, hora), tied to weddings and festivities.

Breaking these out honors their real, separate communities: country line dancers, the MWSD club world, Andalusian feria culture, and Ashkenazi simcha (celebration) tradition. Each has its own repertoire, etiquette, and social setting that a single catch-all label obscures.

Country and pop-country tracks at social tempos (line dancing); a live caller over hoedown/contemporary music (MWSD); the distinctive coplas of sevillanas in 3/4 (often mislabeled as flamenco); and klezmer ensemble music—clarinet-led freylekhs and bulgars—for Jewish circle and partner dances.

Repeating choreographed step sequences performed in unison facing a wall, rotating quarter-turns (line dancing); figures executed on the caller's command in a four-couple square (MWSD); four fixed coplas of set passes and turns between partners (sevillanas); and circle, line, and couple figures such as the hora and sher (klezmer).

Danced in country bars and classes worldwide (line dancing), in caller-led clubs and conventions (MWSD), at Andalusian ferias and Spanish social events (sevillanas), and at Jewish weddings, simchas, and folk-dance gatherings (klezmer).