Quadrille set five person set colonial ball at the Albert Hall

Sequence dancing is a form of

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

in which a preset pattern of movements is followed, usually to

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

which is also predetermined. Sequence dancing may include dances of many different styles. The term may include

ballroom dance Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and te ...

s which move round the floor as well as line,

square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

and

circle dance Circle dance, or chain dance, is a style of social dance done in a circle, semicircle or a curved line to musical accompaniment, such as rhythm instruments and singing, and is a type of dance where anyone can join in without the need of Partne ...

s. Sequence dancing in general is much older than modern ballroom dances. With the exception of the

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

, invented around 1800, all dances in ballrooms were sequence dances until the early 20th century. After modern ballroom dancing developed, in England, sequence dancing continued. It included so-called 'Old Time' dances and also adapted versions of the new ballroom dances, and then versions of Latin dances. Sequence dancing is a competitive sport as well as a social pastime. The British Sequence Championships is the most famous annual sequence dance competition and is part of the Blackpool Sequence Dance Festival. This is held in the Empress Ballroom, Winter Gardens,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, since 1949.

Sequence dancing today

Modern sequence dancing has a repeat of the steps at every sixteenth bar, typically going on for five or six sequences in all. Specially performed sequence dance music in strict tempo is usually needed, although some 'ordinary' music may suffice provided it is played in 16 bar sections or sequences throughout. Ideally, sequence music will have a four bar introduction at the correct tempo and in the correct rhythm, followed by 5 or 6 sixteen bar sequences allowing all dancers to progress around the room and ending when the music finishes. There are many different tempo types for sequence dancing, based on the classification of each dance. Each has an accepted speed of playing so that a typical programme of sequence dancing has a wide variety of activity. Sequence dances are split into three different sections: Old Time (also occasionally seen as Old Tyme - now referred to as Classical), Modern, and Latin, with the dividing line being somewhere in the early 20th century. New sequences are being devised all the time, and the number of which have been published as scripts stands at over four thousand (as of 2010). Old-time (Classical) dances: Old-time

Waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

Country dance A country dance is any of a very large number of social dances of a type that originated in England in the British Isles; it is the repeated execution of a predefined sequence of figures, carefully designed to fit a fixed length of music, perfo ...

Quadrille The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six ''Contra dance, contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of ope ...

, Galop,

Polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

; Saunter,

Gavotte The gavotte (also gavot, gavote, or gavotta) is a French dance, taking its name from a folk dance of the Gavot, the people of the Gap, Hautes-Alpes, Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné in the southeast of France, where the dance originated, accordin ...

, Two Step, Mazurka,

Schottische The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian-era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (Spanish ...

, Cakewalk. Modern dances:

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

Foxtrot The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a time ...

Quickstep The quickstep is a light-hearted dance of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal ...

Latin American dances: Rumba, Cha-cha-cha,

Samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

, Jive,

Paso Doble Pasodoble (Spanish language, Spanish: ''double step'') is a fast-paced Spanish military march used by infantry troops. Its speed allowed troops to give 120 steps per minute (double the average of a regular unit, hence its name). This often wa ...

, Bossa Nova, Salsa,

Mambo Mambo most often refers to: *Mambo (music), a Cuban musical form *Mambo (dance), a dance corresponding to mambo music Mambo may also refer to: Music * Mambo section, a section in arrangements of some types of Afro-Caribbean music, particul ...

. Regular competitions are held between dance teachers to decide which newly created sequence dances shall be officially adopted and scripted for wider distribution. Most of these are tried for a short while and then disappear into the archives. Some, just a few, find great popularity and join the select group of dances which last for several years round the dance halls. Such popular dances are the basis of practically every Tea Dance. Moreover, most now consider the best dances are the older dances, and although a few clubs still teach them, interest in the new dances now seems to be rapidly diminishing. Most people who attend these functions will recognise Saunter Together, Mayfair Quickstep, Waltz Cathrine, Rumba One, and many others. An alternative to the tea dance is the Dance Club. Dance clubs are devoted to the teaching and learning of all the approved new sequence dances.T.A. Whitworth 1997. ''Learning the essential Sequence Dances''. Hillman Printers, 1997. p9

New Vogue

New Vogue is a set of sequence dances which use modern ballroom technique. It was developed in Australia in the 1930s and is danced socially and competitively across Australia and New Zealand. There are fifteen competition dances which cover March, Foxtrot, Tango, and Viennese Waltz rhythms.

Sequence dance scripts

These are written in a shorthand form similar to phone texting or knitting patterns. The jargon is easily learned and the shorthand can be understood. Ultra-keen sequence dancers subscribe to script services that distribute the scripts immediately after they are issued by the competition organisers. A short example of this dance scripting is as follows: :1. :2.

References

External links

(On-Line Script Library)Sequence Dance Script ServiceSequence Dancing World
{{Dance Social dance Choreography Sixteen bar sections