Line dancing has become a dominant force in social dance culture. Whether at backyard cookouts, wedding receptions, or Southern soul festivals, line dancing brings people together in a seamless groove. But what many don’t realize is that both stepping and line dancing have deep African influences. Traditional African dance has always emphasized group movements, rhythm-driven expression, and communal energy-all key elements present in these modern dance forms.
Recently, line dancing, a decades-long pastime within Black communities, has been fueled by social media. Line dancing goes beyond the boundaries of Black culture, but much of the synchronized dance has roots in African and Caribbean cultures.
The origin of line dancing is hotly debated, but some historians claim that it dates back to the 1770s during slavery, according to Thomas F. DeFrantz, a Duke University African and African American dance studies professor. Enslaved people turned to line dancing as a form of connection.
If you attend any Black family gathering-whether it’s a wedding, birthday party, or holiday celebration-you’ll find Black people rejoicing and participating in a fun line dance, all while smiling from ear to ear with loved ones.
Line dancing in the Black community has deep cultural roots, beginning with African traditions and eventually making its way to enslaved individuals after their long, painful journey to the United States. According to the Jazz History Tree, these distinctive dances served as tools for worship and community building.
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The Ring Shout, for instance, was a counterclockwise dance performed in ceremonial worship dating back to the 1500s. For enslaved people, the Ring Shout was more than a dance-it was a religious practice where Christianity blended with African elements. Participants moved in a circle, creating rhythm by clapping and patting their feet. One person would set the tempo by singing, with the group responding in call-and-response. Sometimes, another person would create additional rhythm by striking the floor with a wooden stick or broom.
Line dancing in New Orleans’ Congo Square gained significant fame in the mid-1800s, as it became a central gathering place for enslaved individuals every Sunday, according to podcaster and Reverend Emmett G. Price. This vibrant space allowed them to come together and create music rooted in their traditional cultures using drums and other native instruments, as they engaged in social dancing.
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“The confluence of those rhythms and harmonies allowed them to gather in social dancing. And this is where they danced with their backs strong and straight, with their necks upright and up long,” Price explained on a June 2024 episode of his YouTube show All Rev’d Up with co-host Reverend Irene Monroe. “They would also do a lot of hip movements, and they would get down-they would kind of groove in what we now know as grinding-but it was not necessarily a hyper-sexual thing. It was a sign of vitality.
According to cultural expert, Nsenga K. “It was a way for them to give instructions when they were trying to do something, whether it was to escape or to organize,” Burton told CNN during an interview published March 29. The elements of the Ring Shout and other forms of line dancing carried on into the Harlem Renaissance, as Black culture continued to evolve artistically.
As Black culture shifted during the Harlem Renaissance, line dancing and swing dancing became an important form of self-expression to match the burgeoning art of the time. The dance continued to progress into the 1970s in tandem with the popularity of disco, soul, R&B music, and the proliferation of the discothèque. As disco music fell out of favor in the ‘80s, line dancing still surged in popularity thanks to the Electric Slide and the introduction of the Cha Cha Slide in the early 1990s.
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During this period, swing dances like the “Shim Sham” emerged, according to Lindyland. Created in 1928 at the Savoy Ballroom by Leonard Reed and Willie Bryant, this tap dance routine blended stomping, tapping, and shimmying, quickly gaining popularity. As highlighted by MadameNoire, in the 1950s, “The Stroll” became another iconic dance born out of the Black community.
Black people would continue to innovate and create iconic line dancing over the next decade, beginning in the 1970s and 1980s. Its evolution made a major shift thanks to the rise of soul, funk, and disco music. During this time, line dancing became more mainstream, with iconic dances like “The Hustle” and “The Electric Slide,” which gained widespread popularity.
As hip-hop music began to dominate the music scene in the 1990s, line dancing continued to evolve, incorporating new styles and rhythms. Songs like “The Cupid Shuffle” and “Wobble” brought line dancing to a new generation, with these dances becoming staples at parties, clubs, and weddings.
“Black culture is a collective culture,” Burton shared with CNN. “Line dancing is cool because it gives us an opportunity to connect with others, to express ourselves with others, and to collaborate on dances. It’s just another way in which we come together and express it visually. With line dancing, it doesn’t matter what political party you are. It doesn’t matter where you grew up if you went to private school, public, it doesn’t matter,” she added. “You just come together and you create."
Taking place in September, Stepping on Ghana Grounds will be the first large-scale event of its kind in Ghana. Stepping and line dancing have long been central to African American culture, serving as expressions of identity, unity, and storytelling. However, Stepping on Ghana Grounds takes this momentum further by introducing these vibrant dance traditions to Ghana, a country deeply connected to the historical and cultural lineage of African Americans.
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Stepping, rooted in African American fraternities and sororities, has long been a powerful expression of rhythm, unity, and storytelling through synchronized movements, percussive footwork, and call-and-response chants. Both dance forms have surged in popularity, from viral social media trends to national television features, with major step competitions and line dancing festivals drawing thousands.
As these styles continue to transcend cultural barriers, they are now making their way to Ghana, where the rhythmic beats and communal spirit of African dance serve as the foundation for their evolution. Stepping is deeply tied to the African American cultural experience, embodying themes of resilience, unity, and empowerment. Beyond entertainment, stepping serves as a rite of passage for many in Black Greek-letter organizations. It fosters discipline, teamwork, and a sense of belonging, as stepping teams dedicate countless hours to perfecting their routines.
Similar to line dancing, stepping has its roots in African and Caribbean dance, as well as elements derived from gymnastics, tap dance, and break dancing. Using the body to make sounds through stomping, clapping, and spoken word, stepping has become one of the most culturally important dances within the Black community. In the early 1900s, Black Greek organizations like NPHC or the Divine Nine incorporated stepping as a call and response to celebrate initiations and celebrate with friends and family. It also became a way for organizations to display pride in their fraternity or sorority.
Stepping quickly progressed into a sport, with a national step contest in 1992, with S.T.O.M.P. created by Frank Mercado Valdes. While it feels like twerking is an inescapable dance within Black culture, the dance didn’t gain mainstream appeal until the 2010s.
Afro Urban Society simply began informally as a few Africans that wanted to connect and make stuff we didn’t see. At the time, Africans were creating visual aesthetics specific to their ethnic identity or tribal roots. It excluded the African diaspora that has also shaped modern day African culture. We wanted to create clothing, visual art, performances, and events that were beyond African nationalism and included political consciousness of the places that we lived.
Urban culture naturally infuses traditional and contemporary dances. Urban Dance is usually generated from the stories, social and political conditions of urban living. In places where dance culture is strong, it is often in disenfranchised communities, where people live in close quarters or unsheltered. Public spaces are a place to socialize, conduct business, create music or dance. From these interactions, street dance emerges and no one owns it. Each city has its own Afro Urban style but I have noticed a global thread of line dancing, freestyle, bravado, and call and response.
Line dance is an expression of unity that brings the collective group together in movement.
Ultimately, dance in whatever form is an important part of any community as it relates to cultural and political expression.
The conga line is a novelty line dance that was derived from the Cuban carnival dance of the same name and became popular in the US in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. In order to perform the dance, dancers form a long, processing line, which would usually turn into a circle. It has three shuffle steps on the beat, followed by a kick that is slightly ahead of the fourth beat.
The conga dance was believed to have been brought over from Africa by enslaved people in the West Indies, and became a popular street dance in Cuba. The style was appropriated by politicians during the early years of republic in an attempt to appeal to the masses before election. During Gerardo Machado's dictatorship in Cuba, Havana citizens were forbidden to dance the conga since rival groups would work themselves to high excitement and start street fights.
The conga dance style is more of a march, which is characterized by its distinctive conga drum rhythm. It differs from the Cuban rumba, which uses movements considered "hip" and shows the sensually aggressive attitude of each dancer. Conga music is played with a staccato beat as its base, which gives rhythm to the movements of the dancers. The basic dance steps start from left leg 1-2-3 kick then repeat, opposite.
Originally, a band member wearing a drum would venture onto the dance floor and begin zig-zagging around while drumming out the rhythm. Dancers would start joining up behind the drummer, forming a line that moves like a snake in an open circle. The line (or the circular chain) would grow longer and the drumming more intense until it finally stopped.
The dance has two styles, which is a single line form and partners. Beginning in the late 1930s, the dance became popular in the United States; however, in the 1940s, it became very popular due to Hollywood's "Latin" musicals. RKO Pictures' offerings were particularly influential, notably Too Many Girls (1940), in which Desi Arnaz appeared as a conga-playing Argentine student.
With its simple march step, the interlinking of dancers circling about in single file, and one-two-three-bump rhythm with the fourth beat strongly marked, the dance was not only attractive but also readily accessible to US and other foreign audiences. The dance started to gain a foothold in the US around 1929, when the original La Conga nightclub opened its doors in Manhattan.
The widespread popularity of the dance resulted in many cultural references in contemporary media. For example, the conga line was a recurring theme in Warner Bros. 1940 “Too Many Girls” starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. 1941 "Ball of Fire" starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Nightclub singer Sugarpuss O'Shea (Stanwyck) teaches the professors the conga and subsequently perform a conga line in the library. In the 1950 Malayan movie entitled Twin Sisters (Kembar?), in the opening scene, a conga line is performed by the guests in a party scene. The 1955 musical film adaptation of My Sister Eileen features a conga line as a recurring gag. In season 4 episode 2 of the AMC series ‘’[Mad Men]’’ entitled, “Christmas Comes But Once a Year,” Joan Harris.
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