There are a couple of different dance forms which go by this name. (At least three that I know of.) The most common form is a choreographed ballroom dance. Round dance clubs have a "cuer" who uses a microphone to tell dancers what to do, much like a square dance caller, but instead of a square dance, they are doing a pre-choreographed ballroom dance routine.
Pros: You don't have to worry about leading as much;, in many cases the dances have been choreographed to very carefully fit the music and take advantage of interesting spots; you learn the names of all the moves you're doing; you can usually transfer the moves (and good sequences) to the ballroom dance floor; and lessons are much cheaper.
Cons: You don't _get_ to lead; except for styling you can't really put your inventiveness into the dance routine; you can't do the routines outside a round dance club (no normal round dancer memorizes these routines, although you can carry pieces of them to the ballroom floor); you have to find a round dance club in your area; and to get to the good stuff you have to put up with introductory lessons where you concentrate on hokey two-step dances (IMHO), :-)
By the way, I have a directory of Round Dance teachers world-wide, so in many cases I can give you the phone number of teachers in your area if anyone is really interested. [ Darrah Chavey chavey@beloit.edu ]
This file is part of the FAQ list for the newsgroup rec.arts.dance. The FAQ list is being maintained by Victor Eijkhout (victor at eijkhout dot net, talk about vanity), who appreciates being sent additions or corrections on the material in this collection. Copyright 1994/5/6/7/8/9/2000 lies with the maintainer and the contributors of various parts.
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Last modified on: Saturday, October 9, 1999.