Lynne's third Viewpoint posted at the beginning of 2000.  This one aroused a lot of interest and proved that it is a subject very close to many dancer's hearts.

COUNTRY MUSIC VERSUS POP, LATIN AND THE REST

I did initially want to keep it country only, but realised that for me to survive (in a business sense) I had to move with the times and I have no regrets. I have to add that besides New Country I really do love Latin, Blues, Swing and Funk.   Having said that, New Country/Rock is where my heart is, and I will always make sure we dance to it. Although I will also compromise to a certain extent, if I cannot identify with a certain music track, I won't use it. I am not the type of person to just 'go with the flow' as to me that means a lack of passion. Above all of this, I still have to remain true to myself. Music for me has to have heart and soul and not just be a marketing formula.

There surely is enough variety now to please everyone. Although things have changed since I started, as long as I can still feel the music (I dance practically every dance with everybody) I will carry on enjoying what I do.

I am grateful that those who attend my classes know and understand that.

Lynne

All replies are posted in the order in which they were received i.e. the most recent at the top.

(13 March)
Dear Lynne
I have just mailed you our latest dance, I then turned to your view point page. I have noticed the letters that refer to the Brean Weekend in November. I attended that weekend and had this misfortune to have to endure Pat Judges (circuit judge) continued outburst about non-country music, he received very limited support from a small minority of the audience (1300). As an instructor for 5 years it still hurts me to see this issue raised time after time, there should be room and time at all events for everyone to enjoy line dancing to all types of music. If a piece of music is played that is not to your liking, so what? the next may be your all time fav!!! let us all get on together and enjoy our chosen hobby with all its diverse influences. As it happens I was there to compete in the choreography competition and won with a standing ovation with a dance called 'Wild and Free' choreographed to a non country track. So it goes to prove there is room for everyone.
Yours
Barry Porter

Hi Barry,
It always feels good to hear from a fellow instructor - especially one that has such an excellent reputation, as you do. (Did you read my previous Viewpoint re: Instructors?) I can understand why some who do feel so passionately about their country music are upset by all of this. However, things never remain the same, and whether we like it or not, the line dance scene has changed. I have had to accept it - as you say, there is (or should be) room for everybody.
Congratulations on winning the choreography competition with 'Wild and Free. You deserve a lot of success.
Best wishes,
Lynne

(6 March)
Hi Lynne .. although it's a bit late in the day I couldn't resist adding my 2 cents worth to your Opinion page.
FWIW, I think the importance of music to line dancing is self-evident.
The music can lift an ordinary dance (eg Now or Never, Jitterbuggin'),
revive a stale dance (T-Bone to Zorba) or kill a good dance (Alane, IMO).
The country versus pop debate is much harder to call, as it's so subjective. I think it's one aspect of the growing division between beginners (and traditionalists) and intermediate/advanced dancers.
Although there are plenty of exceptions, New Country music tends to have a more limited rhythm and "feel" than Pop, Latin, Irish (or Tahitian !).
Consequently, the harder, but more exciting dances tend to be choreographed to non-Country, and picked up by the more confident dancers, who may have become rather bored with the older dances. I suspect this is more the case than a straight musical preference.
Although Bonnie Morris is an excellent teacher, I can't agree that there is a great desire to return to country roots among line dancers. I think I attended the Dancelines event she refers to (Brean, November, Plain Loco?) and got the impression that the approval of the band's country stance came from a noisy minority. I agree with her father, though for different reasons. Line dancing probably has damaged country bands, as the only live bands that can provide the consistency and variety, compared to a disco, that line dancers prefer play covers to backing tracks (like the Deans), and frankly, why bother ?
Personally, as a newcomer to your class, I completely support your policy of only teaching to music you enjoy. If this means that your classes miss a few popular dances (though you swallowed your dislike of Scooter Lee and taught J'ai du Boogie), it is more than compensated for by being introduced to exciting music and dances, like Bahama, that the less adventurous teachers may not attempt.
Regards
Tom Potts
London and Gloucester

Thanks Tom, I am so pleased you have understood exactly where I am coming from and have not interpreted it as selfishness or ignorance. As a professional instructor, (and there are not many around) I am fully aware of exactly what dances are 'out there' and decide what to teach on that basis.
I found what you had to say re: Bonnie's letter very very interesting as well.  I cannot specifically comment on the bands other than to say I cannot see the point of dancing to a two-piece with backing tracks and generally I prefer dancing to CD's whereby everything is 'tighter'.  That is not to say I don't enjoy country bands.
Having read through your letter several times, I cannot find a single
sentence that I don't agree with.
Thank you once again for all your support.  It means a lot.
Lynne

(24 Feb)
I  admit that when I first tried line dancing 3 years ago, I thought that I would hate the music and would therefore never keep it up.  I was wrong in the very first class - I heard a kind of music I knew nothing about and I LOVED it.  All my mates thought I was mad as I was spending all my hard-earned cash on Country CD's - me - disco-crazy me!  I think people knock things when they don't know anything better.   Country music is not heard in this country, properly.
Nick Cameron
London

You are so right Nick.   The majority of people in the UK don't know anything about country music and sadly don't want to know.  The word 'country' is a dirty word in this context, unfortunately.  I am pleased you are a convert.  Keep up the dancing.
Best wishes,
Lynne 

(17 Feb)
I couldn't agree more Lynne.  I think the music is more important than the actual dance.  If you get fed up with a certain dance I can guarantee it's the music you are tired of and not the steps.  I can't stand that Mambo No. 5 now and I used to love it!  It's also nice to see that someone else mourns the passing of all those great rocky country tracks.  I really do miss them and it is always so refreshing when a dance like XLR8 appears on the scene - it really takes me back to the days of those great Country sounds that I found so exciting and inspiring.
Steph
Kings Lynn

 Hi Steph, thanks for writing in.  It is good that the music is more diverse; but I will make sure that the music you are referring to is being danced to as well. Thanks also for agreeing with me, I appreciate your words.
Lynne

(15 Feb)
I take my hat off to you Lynne – stick with the way you feel and don’t bow to pressure. I have been to zillions of classes where the instructor looks as bored as the rest of his/ her class and that’s really sad. What is the point of doing something you hate with music you can’t identify with? Someone has to make a decision on what dances a class learns and therefore what music to use and I feel it’s up to the instructor to guide them and point them in the right direction. This is obviously working for you (I have actually been to one of your classes whilst I was staying with a friend in London) otherwise you wouldn’t still be instructing – your dancers would have voted with their feet and gone elsewhere.
Alec Fromentine
Dorset

Wow Alec, thank you ever so much. If you should ever come by again, please come and introduce yourself. I do so appreciate your words.
Best Wishes
Lynne.

(14 Feb)
I just can’t believe that people can be so narrow-minded. Who the hell said that line dancing was just for people who wanted to dance to Country music? Let’s face it the origins of line dancing are pretty unclear so why does it have to be pigeonholed in this way? You seem to imply that by `going with the flow’ you will be unable to put any passion into your classes. Maybe you should loosen up a bit Lynne and stop putting pressure on yourself. If I don’t particularly like a dance or a piece of music then I sit that one out and have a drink whilst others who do like it can get on and dance it and enjoy themselves. You can’t possibly like everything – that’s just not possible, but you surely have to respect other’s likes and dislikes as well.
Alana Hawkes
Salisbury

Well Alana, you sure have said it as you FELT it. I don’t want to get into the origins of line dancing and I have never said that line dancing should just be danced to country music. I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t have the luxury of just sitting out and having a drink. I am fully aware that not everybody is going to like every piece of music I play anyway, so that situation exists already. The difference is that I am hearing the music over and over and over again. I am sure that your instructor chooses certain dances and pieces of music based on the way he/she `hears and feels it’ – they just might not admit doing it.
I did enjoy reading your letter though and you made some interesting points.
Regards
Lynne

Well yes, Irene, I agree with you. But look at it this way, if a great piece of music came on and you were told you HAD to dance Electric Slide (which you hate) to it, or visa versa, if your favourite dance was Electric Slide and you were told you HAD to dance to a track that you absolutely HATE, which would be more preferable? Surely the former would be a more tolerable option.
Regards,
Lynne

Hello Bridget,
There is no problem and I think you have not understood my Viewpoint properly. The Irish dances are brilliant - it is just that when 'Electric Reel' came out the general reaction was "Wow, look at that dance". If the same dance had been danced to a piece of country music, which is perfectly possible, it would not have been noticed in the same way. Re: Swamp Thang, it was initially choreographed to a country track and later changed to Swamp Thang by The Grid. Again, at the time, it did not get the recognition until it went techno, which in turn made it different. By using totally different pieces of music to the 'norm' at the time, it almost made it a guaranteed success. Thanks for your letter.
Best wishes,
Lynne

The following in an excerpt from an email which was sent to Lynne from a fellow instructor. 

Hi Bonnie,
Thanks for responding. I found what you had to say very interesting.
The problem for me is that because access is so limited, most of the country I hear seems rather dull - but I am sure there must still be some excellent country music around - I just don't hear it. I used to have CMT in the background playing all day long, and often I would be doing something else and all of a sudden I would have to stop and say, `hey, what's that song - it sounds fantastic’. Alas, those days seem to have gone.
I don't really enjoy pop although I do love the Latin and have no regrets in deciding to teach to other forms of music - my sadness comes from the fact that I am not teaching enough dances to country music these days. You as an instructor know exactly the kinds of pressures we are under to teach dances that others are doing as well.
I admire you for sticking to your guns, but I also admire you for the fact that you have kept an open mind in employing others that do teach to all forms of music.
Thanks for the contact Bonnie. I appreciate it.
All the best.
Lynne

Oh Bryan, now you’ve really upset my dance schedule. The very next dance WAS actually going to be to the Birdie Song. Now that you’ve found out my little secret I’m going to have to fall back on my reserve dance…..The Slosh!
I’m certain that you and the rest of the class are just going to love it but if you don’t, what do I care? I like it so you’re all going to have to grin and bear it aren’t you.
Bryan I am kidding, I promise……although in the case of S-Club 7 I think I may need a little more convincing!
Thanks yet again for taking to time to write.
Fondest wishes,
Lynne

A personal comment from the webmaster.....

After each Viewpoint I read all the replies with interest as I am entering them onto the site. I always remain impartial as all the letters are written to Lynne and not me and it would be wrong of me to intervene. However, with the kind permission of `The Boss’ I would just like to share this with you.
On Monday evening, after yet another terrific class, Lynne handed me a CD and told me to listen to it as she knew I would like it. The CD is entitled `King of the Hill’ and is a compilation of Country tracks. I drive to my office every day and listen to music all the way so I always welcome a new CD to help pass the time. As well as a love of line dancing, Lynne and I share an almost identical taste in music. (unfortunately we don’t share the same long slim legs!!!)
As soon as the first few notes of the very first track rang out I got excited because, apart from anything else, the great Travis Tritt was giving it his all. As I was practising the little known art of line dancing whilst driving a car I remembered why I loved this pastime so much. I knew nothing about Country music when I walked into Lynne’s class 5 years ago. She introduced me to a whole new world of music - a total revelation to me, as up to that moment my experience of Country had never been stretched past the likes of Glen Campbell and Tammy Wynette! (no criticism intended here).
Lynne is extremely careful to include a bit of everything in her sessions – which are always varied, energetic and fun. But I thank goodness that she remains true to her love of Country Rock. It is music with heart and soul and I love her for introducing me to it.
Now I have to go and have the windows replaced in my car……I blew them out this morning listening to Travis!
Sue (aka Susie)
Webmaster

These next two appear to be making the same point so Lynne has written one answer covering both.

(19th Jan)
Lynne
How interesting that you only mention the music YOU like. Where do your class fit into this equation? Just because YOU can’t identify with a certain piece of music it doesn’t mean that everyone else can’t either. Can we all assume that if we attend one of your classes and happen to request a popular dance with music that you just "can’t identify with" then we can go play with the traffic instead?
Marcus Beecham
Stratford

(19 Jan)
Dear Lynne,
Most of what you said I agree with, however, I find your comment about "if I can’t identify with a certain music track then I won’t use it" a bit high-handed and, dare I say it, dictatorial. It is very narrow-minded of you to assume that just because you don’t like a certain piece of music that nobody else will. Don’t your class ever get a say in what you play or are they forced to stick rigidly to what you like?
Bethan Lloyd
Cumbria

Gosh, thank you both for writing in so quickly and I apologise if I have angered you.

What I am saying is that my choice of dance - that I decide to teach is very much dependent on the music the dance was choreographed too. As I live and breathe them, if I hate the music I find it almost impossible to relate to the dance. 

Because there is such a broad selection of music to choose from nowadays, there is more that I will dislike; on the other hand there are loads that I love so why not go with those as opposed to doing something that I feel forced to teach just because everybody else is doing it.   Of course I want to please the dancers that attend my sessions and if I didn't I would not still be holding three very successful classes. (Many dance elsewhere as well so they know exactly what is around and if they felt they were 'missing out' I am sure they would stop coming to me.) I will always listen to what they want and more often than not WILL please them.

Having said all that, if there is a piece of music they want to dance to (even if it is to the likes of 'Agadoo') I will always play it during the request section or at one of our functions. I just don't want to live with an 'Agadoo' or a 'hillbilly yeeha' track and I believe those that come to my sessions wouldn't want to either.

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Last modified: 03 April 2001