We get many overseas queries about traditional Australian Folk Dances -
this web site is an attempt to fill the need.
Australasia has a very
lively dance scene, which has existed since colonial times.
"Modern bush dancing is a city-based development from the folk
revival of the 1950s. The majority of the dances were folk dances
from Great Britain and Europe, while the others were from the
Australian tradition. Colonial dancing actually describes the social
dance fashion of town and country of the 19th Century.
From the time of earliest settlement the older country dances
were rapidly replaced by new dance fashions constantly arriving in
the colony and adopted by all classes of society. As early as 1820,
the waltz and quadrille had been established alongside these country
dances, jigs and reels. By the 1850s the scene was dominated by
further quadrilles such as the Lancers, Caledonians and Parisian,
with the Alberts, Fitzroy, Waltz Cotillion and others to follow.
Also fashionable were the Waltz, Galop, Polka, Schottische, Polka
Mazurka and Varsoviana.
