American Traditional Informal Freeform Solo Folk Dancing - Roots and Regions Where Prevalent

Roots and Regions Where Prevalent

Significant influences on these traditional styles in America include the traditions of African, European, English, Irish, Scottish, and Native American dance. Irish Dance includes a traditional informal freeform solo style known as Sean Nós or "old style". Sean-nós dance in America has been a significant influence on solo Southern dancing and solo mountain-style dancing. The regions where this form of dance is most commonly found roughly parallels the geographic area of Appalachia, the Ozarks, or other regions where the isolation and rough topography impeded the encroachment of more modern forms. These regions coincide with Colonial frontier areas where America's earlier English settlers found the land less desirable and subsequently were more available for newer immigrants. Thus there is a stronger influence of the Irish and Scottish peoples in those regions from their migration during Colonial and later eras.

Sean-nós dance in America has made a significant contribution to the American traditional informal freeform solo folk dancing that includes Hoofing (AKA Hoofin'), Buck Dancing, Soft Shoe, Clogging (in its older non-show form), and the Irish Jig. (Various other names may be applied for this category of dance, depending upon the specific regional, language, cultural, or social group.) Solo Southern dancing and Solo mountain-style dancing show strong influences from sean-nós dance.

I believe that to get some idea of the process of Southern vernacular dance development, we must consider it in parallel with its companion music and the dominant cultures that have mixed to produce it: British, African, and to some extent, Native American. These cultures began their intense musical interaction here in the 17th century, first among African-Americans and then in the 19th century among British-Americans, especially in small Southern towns and nearby rural areas. A good example of Anglo/Afro interaction in music is the introduction of the banjo, originally an African instrument. It is quite certain that the interaction between the European fiddle and African banjo changed the styles and repertoire of both. African-Americans first played these instruments together soon after being brought here, and the banjo/fiddle combination was the basis for the late 19th-century/early 20th-century mountain music to which most of our older dancers moved.

- Mike Seeger, Musician, Documentarian, Ethno-Musicologist