Country Dance
Also known as: English Country Dance, Contredanse, Longways Dance, Contradanza
- Origin
- England
- Era
- 1600–Present
- Rhythm
- Chiefly duple and compound time (2/4, 4/4, 6/8, 9/8), with a substantial repertoire in 3/2 and 3/4
- Tempo
- Roughly 108-132 BPM, but the tune's phrase length rather than a fixed tempo governs the dance
- Character
- communal, figured, sociable, orderly, brisk, conversational
History & Cultural Context
References to country dancing appear in English sources in the late sixteenth century, but the form becomes concrete with John Playford's The English Dancing Master of 1651, which set down tunes and figure instructions for longways, square and round sets and ran through many enlarged editions into the eighteenth century. The essential mechanism is progression: a short figure sequence matched to the length of the tune, danced with one neighbouring couple, then repeated with the next, so that over the course of a dance every couple meets every other. It crossed to France as the contredanse, where the square-set version was elaborated into the cotillon and then the quadrille, and it travelled with British and French settlers to North America and with Spanish and French colonial society to the Caribbean. In fashionable English ballrooms it was displaced through the early nineteenth century by the quadrille and then by the couple dances, surviving in villages and in Scotland. The twentieth-century revival, driven in England by Cecil Sharp and in North America by the living contra tradition of New England, returned it to regular practice.
Cultural Significance
It was danced both at court and in villages, and the printed manuals made it a commodity: a dancing master's living depended on supplying new figures each season. Because the sets mixed dancers, the form suited assembly rooms and public balls where people of different rank and unfamiliar acquaintance shared a floor, and much of the social business of courtship happened inside it. Its export followed trade and empire, which is why the same structural idea surfaces in Havana, Paris, Copenhagen and rural Massachusetts under different names.
Characteristic Movement & Technique
The travelling step is a light springy walk or a skipping step taken to the beat, with the body upright and the movement carried in the legs and feet rather than in torso rotation. There is no rise and fall in the ballroom sense and no sustained turning; the shaping comes from paths through the set, casting, weaving heys, and figures that face partners across or along the line. Hands are taken briefly for turns, stars and poussettes and released again. Setting and turning single are done on the spot as small ornamental figures that mark the phrase.
Partnering Dynamics
There is no closed hold and no continuous physical connection; contact is intermittent, by one hand or two, and often with someone other than the partner. Direction comes from the memorised figure and the musical phrase rather than from a leader signalling a follower, so both dancers carry equal responsibility for the shape. Eye contact does the work that a frame does in later couple dances.
Competitive Context
Not a competitive form in any period. Its present life is in English country dance and contra dance clubs, Playford and Regency-themed balls, and historical dance societies; the Scottish branch has an organised teaching and examination structure through the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, but that is certification rather than competition.
Regional Variations
The English longways set is the baseline; the French contredanse française favoured the square and became the quadrille, while the contredanse anglaise kept the lines. Scottish country dance developed its own step vocabulary and was formalised in the twentieth century, and the American contra tradition kept the longways progression while simplifying the step to a walk and adding a caller. Danish, German and Cuban lines each adapted the figures to local music.
Common Misconceptions
The name does not mean the dance was rustic, nor is it a corruption of the French contredanse; the English term is the earlier one and the French word is the borrowing. It was never confined to peasants, and the printed figures represent what dancing masters sold rather than a complete record of what people actually did.
Signature Figures
- Hey
- Set and turn single
- Cast off
- Right and left
- Back to back
- Hands across (star)
- Siding
- Arming
- Poussette
Notable Codifiers
- John Playford
- Thomas Wilson
- Cecil Sharp
Country Dance Playlists
Curated collections on the LODance YouTube channel — performances to watch, lessons to learn from, and the right music to practice with. Tap a collection to play.
▶ Performances · Open on YouTube →
Country Dance Music & Tempo
Drawn from 39 Country Dance tracks in the LODance music library.
Example tracks at practice tempo
- La Dorset — Spare Parts
- Spanish Waltz — Spare Parts
- Byerly's Waltz — Spare Parts
- Soldier's Joy Medley — Spare Parts
- La Blonde: Polka — Rutland Sinfonia / Barry Collett
- Helcia: Polka — Rutland Sinfonia / Barry Collett
Who governs Country Dance
Federations, councils and examining bodies with a recorded role in this style. No single organization can tell you this — each one knows only itself.
What to Wear
Attire guidance for Country Dance and other Historic Regency Country dances. Each card below is sized to the moment — class, practice, social, or competition — because the wardrobe shifts as the stakes do.
Reading the cards
In Class
Soft-soled shoes, comfortable clothing. Long skirts optional but helpful for learning to manage period movement.
Social Dancing
Regency balls are popular: women in Empire-waist gowns and long gloves, men in breeches and tailcoats or period-adjacent formalwear. Jane Austen societies maintain active social dance calendars.
Competition
Not competed; performed at historical events in full Regency costume.
Shoes
Women: flat ballet-style slippers or character shoes without heel. Men: flat dress shoes or period boots. The dances were designed for flat shoes on polished wood floors.
In Practice
The dances were built for flat shoes on polished wood floors — heels work against the geometry of the figures.
Price Range
- Budget: Flat ballet slippers or oxford-style flats $40–90; modern formal-adjacent clothing.
- Mid: Period-styled Empire-waist gown $200–600; men's tailcoat and breeches $250–700.
- Premium: Bespoke Regency reproduction costume $1,200–4,500.
Quick Tips
- •Suede-soled shoes allow controlled sliding and pivoting — essential for most partner dances.
- •Avoid rubber soles on dance floors; they grip too much and can cause knee injuries.
- •Bring a separate pair of clean shoes for the dance floor to keep it in good condition.
Recommended Gear for Country Dance
Essential equipment and apparel selected for dancers learning Country Dance.
As an Amazon Associate, LODance earns from qualifying purchases. Affiliate disclosure
Sources & Further Reading
Where This Dance Is Documented
Playford, The English Dancing Master (1651); CDSS publications
An editor's note on where the technique for this dance is actually written down — sometimes a named book, sometimes the fact that no such book exists. A judgment, not a count of what we hold.
Cultural & Historical Context
Country Dance emerged from England during the 1600s—present day. Understanding the cultural roots, musical traditions, and social circumstances of this era enriches appreciation for the dance's characteristics and significance.
Formative Influences
Codifiers & Standardizers:
John Playford, Thomas Wilson, Cecil Sharp
Signature Movement Vocabulary:
Hey, Set and turn single, Cast off, Right and left, Back to back, Hands across (star), Siding, Arming, Poussette
Primary Source Documents
The Library of Dance contains public-domain primary sources for dance history. Copyrighted modern syllabi are indexed with purchase links to their respective copyright owners. Search by dance name or codifier to discover primary source documents.
Last reviewed: October 2026 — This dance profile synthesizes historical research, cultural documentation, and contemporary practice knowledge to provide authoritative context.
More in Historic Regency Country
English Country Dance
English Country Dances were group dances in line or square formations, performed to lively music and featured alternating partner exchanges and figures. They became enormously popular in 17th-18th century England and influenced American colonial dance.
Longways Set
Longways set dances were English line dances performed in two parallel lines, featuring partner exchanges and figures typical of Regency-era dancing.
Cotillion
The Cotillion was a square dance for four couples that emerged in 18th-century France as the contredanse française. Its memorized figures alternated with a set of "changes," and it spread to English and American ballrooms in the later 18th century.
Quadrille
The Quadrille was a highly structured square dance for four couples, systematized with five figures and remaining popular throughout the 19th century in aristocratic society.
Scottish Reel
The Reel was a rapid Scottish couple or group dance featuring continuous turning and was related to English country dances. It became popular throughout the UK and influenced American square dance.
Round Dance
Round dance was the 19th-century ballroom category for closed-position couple dances — waltz, polka, schottische, galop, mazurka — that travel counterclockwise around the room, distinguishing them from the era's square dances (quadrille, cotillion) and country dances. Origins are debated; see Sources.
Grand March
A processional in march time used to open a formal ball, in which the assembled couples form a single column and are then divided and recombined into twos, fours and eights as they travel the room. It is less a dance than an organising device: it presents everyone in the room to everyone else and delivers a crowded floor into order for the dancing that follows.
Lancers
A five-figure quadrille set with its own distinct figure content, including a visiting figure in which couples call on each other in turn and a closing figure built on a grand chain danced to march time. After an initial vogue it faded, was revived around the middle of the nineteenth century, and became the set that outlasted every other in the ballroom.
Plain Quadrille
The standard five-figure set of Le Pantalon, L'Ete, La Poule, La Trenis or La Pastourelle, and the Finale, danced by four couples in a square. This was the default set of the nineteenth-century ballroom, the one a dancer was assumed to know, and the frame against which every other quadrille set was described.
Country Dance in art
Browse the gallery →Works our catalog identifies as depicting country dance.
Dancing Couple
Jan Steen
public_domain
The Country Dance
William Hogarth
public_domain
Peasant dance
Unknown artist
public_domain
The country dance
Unknown artist · 2023
public_domain
The country dance
Unknown artist · 2023
public_domain
Peasant dance
Unknown artist · 2019
public_domain
055 Hochzeit-Gastmahl und Tänze im Bezirk Zell - 1811
Scan and postprocessing by Hubertl · 1850
Public Domain
The new country dance, as danced at C****, July the 30th 1766 LCCN2004672612
British Cartoon Prints Collection · 1766
Public Domain
Prints after William Hogarth
Unknown artist
Public Domain
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