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New Vogue Dances

There is a stereotype that Australian men dance like Frankenstein. Their lack of rhythm and stiff knees has many of them resembling a chicken or jack in the box bouncing from side to side. Other men just watch over the dance floor, beer in hand, as they perhaps beat their chin to the music.

Bearing the stereotype in mind, it may surprise many people to know that away from the techno nightclub, Australia has created a unique dance genre known as new vogue. In Australian dance sport, new vogue dances carry equal standing to the international competition dances of ballroom (tango, foxtrot, waltz) and Latin-American (tango, rumba, cha cha, salsa.)

The dances are based on ballroom and latin dances, but they have a sequence of steps that are continually repeated throughout the dance. Each routine lasts for either 16 or 32 bars of music, and is then repeated. This prescription of sequences makes new vogue dances quite easy to learn. In a very short period of time, new dancers can feel confident with new vogue dance and are able to change partners very easily. On the other hand, the latin dances have an assortment of steps that the man needs to spontaneously choreograph into a sequence as the dance goes on.

Even though new vogue dances prescribe sequences, dancers can still be expressive through the shape and styling. In competition, dancers are required to have more refined beauty and feeling in their arm and torso movements. Consequently, the focus is less on the sequence of steps, and more on the overall expression of feeling and beauty. As the dances have open positions, they have ample opportunities to show these beauty and feeling, which in turn makes them very attractive to watch.

New vogue dances originated in the 1930s and 40s. One argument about their development proposes that Australian dancers rebelled against the dreary foot work of the old time English dances and started to choreograph their own sequences. The old time English dances used turned out foot positions, which limited the amount of movement that a good dancer could get. Another possibility is that is that Australian dance teachers wanted a range of dances that would be easier to teach, and less intimidating for men accustomed to dancing like a jack in the box.