Rachael Reed, Dec 24, 2024
Music - Follow Me (Club Mix)
Aly-Us
Strictly Tiefschwarz (DJ Edition - Unmixed)
-snip-
All of the dancers in this outdoor gathering are Black, Notice that the males and females are joyful. Many of the dancers in this "Follow Me" video are flicking a hand held folded fan at specific times during this son while they dance around an outdoor area. Their movements remind me of a Conga line except that the procession isn't as organized as those types of dance lines. In this video sometimes different dancers appear to be in single file, and sometimes there are two or three or more dancers moving along side of each other, performing the group's forward then back then forward choreographed routine in more or less organized ways. However, the spirit of the dance is always joyful and the percussive sound that the fans make when they are flick adds to that joyful spirit. The whistle blowing also adds to that happy spirit and appears to me to further unify the dancing crowd.
This procession reminds me of a Conga line, only there is less order in the movements and the participants touching any part of a person dancing in front of them or besides them.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-1992-hit-song-follow-me-circle-line.html for a subsequent pancocojams post about Aly-Us' 1992 hit song "Follow Me". That post includes this same video, several other "Follow Me" videos, information, and comments about this song and its circle line dance.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision - Feb. 15, 2025
In addition, this pancocojams post showcase a YouTube video of a Hora dance and a YouTube video of a Freylekh dance. Both Hora and Freylekh are traditional circle dances.
The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown and known choreographers of the dances that are showcased in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in these videos, thanks to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO OF 'TRAIL RIDE SAILING" -Trailride Sailing Circle Line Dance
Carol Baskin, Aug 11, 2023
Own No Rights To This Music!!
Line Dance Choreographer: CowGirl Hollywud
Get’n It In Line Dance Group
Song: Trailride Sailing
Artist: Meechie X
-snip-
Click https://www.npr.org/2024/05/30/nx-s1-4978783/black-cowboys-trail-rides-are-an-expression-of-family-tradition-and-creole-culture Black cowboys trail rides are an expression of family,
tradition and Creole culture; May 30, 2024 "Heard on All Things Considered" By Anna Adams
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THE STANDARD DEFINITION OF CIRCLE DANCES
From https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 partners. Unlike line dancing, circle dancers are in
physical contact with each other; the connection is made by hand-to-hand,
finger-to-finger or hands-on-shoulders, where they follow the leader around the
dance floor. Ranging from gentle to energetic, the dance can be an uplifting
group experience or part of a meditation.
Being probably the oldest known dance formation, circle
dancing is an ancient tradition common to many cultures for marking special
occasions, rituals, strengthening community and encouraging togetherness.
Circle dances are choreographed to many different styles of music and rhythms.
Modern circle dance mixes traditional folk dances, mainly from European or Near
Eastern sources, with recently choreographed ones to a variety of music both
ancient and modern. There is a growing repertoire of new circle dances to
classical music and contemporary songs."...
-snip-
This Wikipedia page doesn't include any mention of African American (Soul) Line Dancing's circle dancing. However, that style of Soul Line Dancing are performed in circular formations, but without any physical contact between their dancers.
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WHAT DOES THE TERM "CIRCLE LINE DANCES" MEAN IN SOUL LINE DANCING
(African American) Soul Line Dancing defines a "circle line dance" as a dance that Soul Line dancers perform in a circular formation. As is the case with other Soul line dances, circle line dances are performed to the accompaniment of a specific record, and the dancers rarely if ever sing or chant.
Unlike other circle dances, individuals performing Soul line dances in circular formations aren't in physical contact with each other i.e. there is no hand-to-hand, finger-to-finger or hands-on-shoulders contact between the dancers when they follow the leader around the dance floor.
Almost all Soul Line dances are performed in horizontal lines. The earliest date for any YouTube videos of Soul Line Dancing in a circular formation that I've come across is 2012. As of February 2025, "Follow Me" and "Trailride Sailing" appear to be the most popular circle formation Soul Line dances. It's difficult to find other Soul Line dance videos with this formation. However, two other video of a circle Soul line dances that I've come across are "Full Circle Line Dance 06 30 2015" published by thearchiebexperience, Aug 22, 2017; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qorEcvB8xm0 and Soul Train Line Dance, published by Dancing With Terressa, October 7, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di9yNr4mQUQ .
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SOME INFORMATION AND A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE HORA - AN EXAMPLE OF A CIRCLE DANCE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hora_(dance)
"Hora, also known as horo and oro, is a type of circle dance traditionally performed in Southeast Europe. Circle dances with similar names are found in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Greece and culturally adopted by ethnic minorities such as the Ashkenazi Jews[1] (Yiddish: האָרע hore), Sephardic Jews (Ladino: הורו horo) and the Roma.
Etymology
The name, spelled differently in various countries, is
derived from the Greek χορός (khorós): "dance",[2] which is cognate
with the Ancient Greek art form of χορεία (khoreía). The original meaning of
the Greek word χορός may have been "circle".[3]
Also, the words hora and oro are found in many Slavic
languages and have the meaning of "round (dance)"; the verb oriti
means "to speak, sound, sing" and previously meant "to
celebrate"."....
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A YOUTUBE VIDEO EXAMPLE OF THE HORA
Hava Nagila - Dancing the Hora!
Sonya Katasheva, Oct 6, 2010
Dancing the Hora leading into a Freylich at a friend's 70th
birthday party
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Here's an excerpt from Google Result's AI result for the question "What does Hava Nagila" mean in English:
" "Hava Nagila" ... is a Hebrew
phrase that means "Let us rejoice" or "Let us be happy". It
is also the name of a well-known Jewish folk song.
Explanation
Hava Nagila is a traditional song
sung at Jewish celebrations, such as weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and other
Jewish holidays. It is often accompanied by the Hora, a traditional Jewish
circle dance."..
Read the following section of this post for information about the "Freylich" dance that is mentioned in that video's summary statement
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE FREYLICH (DANCES)
From https://folkdancefootnotes.org/dance/a-real-folk-dance-what-is-it/about/freylekhs-freilach-yiddish/
...."Fryelekhs (there are many spellings) is Yiddish for “merriment or pleasure” – think frolic.
Freylekhs can refer to Yiddish happy music in a steady, medium-to-fast tempo.
[...]
Freylekhs also refers to the dancing commonly done to
Freylekhs music. There is no set pattern
for this dancing – no choreography.
Dancers often move in a circle, to left or right, but can also form a
Grand March, or move towards and away in opposing lines, or dance solo or in
pairs.
More important than footwork is spirit. Freylekhs are most often danced at weddings and bar mitzvahs – joyous occasions."....
Here's a video of a Freylekh dance:
OFDA 40th Anniversary Celebration 1 - Freylekhs Dance - ריקוד
פריילך
Leon Balaban, Oct 18, 2009
Ontario Folk Dance Association dinner and dance, October 17,
2009, Toronto, Canada.
Helen Winkler* leading a Freylekhs dance to the sound of the klezmer band "West of Odessa" from Buffalo/Hamilton.
**** Thanks for visiting pancocojams. Visitor comments are welcome.
With regard to the section in this pancocojams post about the Freylekhs dances, a statement that I didn't quote emphasizes that those dances are joyful. (The joyful nature of those dances-and of the Hora- links those dances to the "Follow Me" Soul line dance video that is also showcased in this pancocojams post.)
ReplyDeleteReturning to the section on Kreylekhs, the writer of that article which I quoted recommends that those reading that article pay particular attention to the first four minutes of an embedded video in which an explanation is given to how that joy is connected with spirituality. Here's that video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwTxqBoNGAo BBC Klezmer! Part 3 of 5
Here's a portion of that auto-generated transcript from that BBC Klezmer video:
Delete[regarding the people gathered sing wordless songs] - around 1:42-1:55 in that video
"they are ecstatic they will sing a tune
for half an hour and dance to it and
sing this one tune over and over and
over again until they achieve it an
almost trance-like state which they
called Vegas union with God"...