American Folk Dance Information | History | Types

There have been attempts in the United States to identify a particular dance form as the true American folk dance. Folklorists, however, stress the inappropriateness of singling out one form of cultural expression as quintessentially American or preeminent. In our multicultural society, folk dance embraces, among others, the Anglo-American square dance, Native American fancy dance, Spanish fandango, Latin salsa, Irish jig, Bohemian polka, Scottish highland fling, African American hip-hop, and English Morris dance.  The belief that folk dance is an authentic representation of an ancient heritage and the cultural identity of a folk or a nation has inspired scholars, politicians, and others to seek out typical and representative dances. For much of the twentieth century, in Western Europe and the United States, folk dancing was popular as a way to promote regional and national identity. After World War II, in the new socialist states of Eastern Europe, professional groups formed under state sponsorship to develop stylized productions of folk dance for stage presentation.

Folk dance in Europe was customarily associated with so-called “peasant” or “folk” communities, created and choreographed collectively and anonymously, and passed on informally from generation to generation. Some English and European folk dances, as well as certain children’s games, are thought to have had their origin in ancient rites, religious ceremonies, and life-cycle rituals. Maypole dances, for example, celebrate the return of spring and incorporate symbols of fertility.