Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of a traditional single file, circular line dance from The Republic of The Congo.*
*The Republic of The Congo (also referred to as Congo Brazzaville) shouldn't be confused with the larger adjacent nation The Democratic Republic of The Congo (also referred as Congo Kinshasa). Both of these nations are located in Central Africa.
This pancocojams post also showcases a YouTube video of a single file, circular African American soul line dance.
Addendum #1 of this pancocojams post presents an AI Overview response to my question about whether any traditional African dances were performed in single file or in longways formations (i.e. two parallel lines facing each other -for example "The Soul Train line".)
Addendum #2 showcases another video from the Republic of The Congo that showcases young girls dancing outdoors in a single file to music that is being performed on stage.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, socio-cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the videographers and publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
SHOWCASE VIDEO #1- 2 juin 2026*
LA MISERE DE MON PEUPLE, Jun 2, 2026
Comments are turned off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPkv5BRcQ2s
-snip-
*Unfortunately, this video doesn't have any title but the date the video was published on YouTube.
To increase the way this video can be identified, I suggest using a title such as "Women From The Democratic Republic of The Congo Dancing In A Single File June 2, 2026."
A number of young Black African women from The Republic of The Congo perform a dance outdoors in a single file line.
The women perform a choreographed routine as they move in a counter clockwise* direction to eventually form a circle.
*"counter clockwise"- the line follows its leader who moves to the left and not to the right (clockwise).
One woman in that group (who in this video isn't the leader) blows a whistle to accompany the music and not for signaling purposes. This up-tempo, percussive music is played and sung in the dancers' native language presumably by people who aren't shown in this video..
The women in this line don't sing or make any sounds while they dance.
-snip-
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MvXvelxpO8 for a June 11, 2026 YouTube video from The Republic Of The Congo of women performing this same dance.
This is one of several other videos of this dance from that video uploader whose sound feature unfortunately isn't working and whose comment features are turned off.
YOUTUBE VIDEO #2 - Follow Me (Circle Dance) - SSULD 12/30/2025
Southside Urban Line Dance, Premiered Mar 1, 2025
Dance: Follow Me (Circle Dance)
Choreographer: unknown
Ballou Recreation Center
Holiday PotLuck
Danville, VA.
@southsideurbanlinedance
-snip-
Music- "Follow Me" by Aly-Us
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ADDENDUM #1- RESPONSE TO MY QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER ANY TRADITIONAL AFRICAN DANCES WERE PERFORMED IN SINGLE FILE OR LONGWAYS* FORMATIONS
My question (August 29, 2026)
Has there been any studies about the possible influence of traditional African dances or specifically Congolese dances on the dance formation of European dances such as the Virginia reel or promenade single circular movements?
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AI Overview Response (August 29, 2026)
"Yes, academic studies exist that explore the structural intersection and
mutual influence between traditional African dances (including Congolese
traditions) and European folk dance formations like the Virginia reel or
circular promenades.
Rather than a one-way influence where African movement altered ancestral European forms in Europe, dance ethnologists and historians typically frame this as a phenomenon of "elective affinities" and cultural synthesis that occurred in the American diaspora. Enslaved Africans and European settlers interacted closely, blending structural elements of their respective dance styles
Key Academic Insights and Theories
The "Line and Circle" Structural Commonalities:
In seminal research like The Circle and the Line:
Speculations on the Development of African American Dance, scholars note that
both West/Central African and traditional European cultures possessed strong
traditions of line (longways) and circle formations. This overlapping geometric
structure made European contra-dances—such as the Virginia reel (which
descended from Irish and English roots)—highly adaptable to African dancers.)."...
[Source cited:
Scholarly Journal
The Circle and the Line: Speculations on the Development
of African American Vernacular Dancing
Hazzard-Donald, Katrina. The Western Journal of Black
Studies; Pullman, Wash. Vol. 20, Iss. 1,
(Spring 1996): 28.
Copyright (c 2008)ProQuest LLC
Copyright © Washington State University
-snip-
Here's an excerpt from that journal article:
..."The
Transformed European Reels:
Historical evidence shows that enslaved Africans frequently
adopted and radically modified European set and line dances. For instance,
archives mention enslaved dancers mastering the "Congo Minuet," where
European choreography was infused with Congolese styling, rhythmic syncopation,
and percussive footwork.
The Sacred Circle vs. Secular Promenade:
In many European group dances, a promenade single circular
movement serves as a temporary transition section. Dance historians theorize
that when African diaspora dancers engaged with these forms, their
interpretation of the circle was heavily filtered through sacred Central
African cosmovisions.
In the Congolese tradition, the counterclockwise circle represents the cycle of life, death, and spiritual continuity (evident in the evolution of the Afro-American Ring Shout). Scholars argue that while Africans participated in the secular lines common to European reels, they often adapted or loaded the circular promenade sections with deep, ancestral spiritual meaning.
Congo Square as a Melting Pot:
In regions like New
Orleans, Sundays at Congo Square allowed people from the Congo and West Africa
to keep their traditional dances alive. White observers frequently witnessed
these heavy, earth-centered circular formations, creating a loop of mutual
observation that eventually filtered back into American social and folk dances. "...
-snip-
Here's information about longways dance formations
from https://dancingmasters.com/dances-in-longways-sets/
..."A longways set is comprised of two lines of dancers facing
each other. Each dancer stands across from their partner. Traditionally, the
‘gents’ are in the right hand line, the ‘ladies’ in the left hand line. See
CHOOSING PARTNERS. Each time through the dance the top couple progresses to the
bottom of the set while the other couples move up one place. The dance is then
repeated with the new top couple."...
-snip-
This article includes a drawing that shows the top couple standing in the space that I would consider to be the bottom of the drawing and the bottom couple standing in the space that I would consider to be the top of the drawing..
I think a number of Americans may also have this opinion of where the top and bottom are in these longways sets and we reverse that top/bottom label from the way it is given in that drawing. That label change is important because it determines whether the couples dance down the space in between the two parallel (longways) lines or whether the couples dance up that space.
The Soul Train line was a feature in the long running national television dance series Soul Train that showcased mostly Black teens performing the latest social dancers.
I believe that the Soul Train line is still the most familiar example of a longways set that people in the United States know. In the Soul Train line the couple (and later one dancer at a time) always danced down the space in between those two longways lines to the bottom of those lines.
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ADDENDUM #2-8 juin 2026*
PONTON TRADI-MODERNE, Jun 8, 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NGFNTrSHEU
-snip-
*This is the only title for this video.
As a way of helping to identify this video, I suggest that it be sub-ttiled "Young girls from the Republic of The Congo dancing in single file June 8, 2026"
These pre-teen/teenage girls are doing more hip motions in this dance that the other Republic of the Congo video in this pancocojams post whose sound feature is working.
As is the case with the women who are dancing in that video, these girls in this single file line don't hold hands or have any contact with any other dancers. They also don't sing or make any sounds while they dance.
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