How line dancing became cool again - from village hall to TikTok craze

For Ava Stratford-Davies, line dancing is more than just a hobby.

The 16-year-old has enjoyed the country dance style since she was seven, following in the footsteps of her mum, grandmother and great-grandmother.

She's one of many line dancers who say perceptions of the dance have shifted dramatically in recent years - from being associated with pensioners, to an explosive social media trend.

Many attribute the boom to country-pop being back in the charts, with mainstream artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan leaning into the genre.

"Country is cool again," says fellow line dancer Natalie Lake.

Ava runs a line dancing business of her own and teaches three classes a week. She also shares video tutorials on TikTok which have racked up thousands of views.

"[Line dancing has] massively changed," says Ava, from Newport in south Wales.

"I remember being in a class and I'd be the youngest one there... in my lessons now, we get loads of kids, loads of teenagers and adults."

Ava says social media is a big part of her inspiration, adding "everything is coming off TikTok" these days.

"Whatever happens in the USA with line dancing, that's how we get all our dances," she says.

Ava's mum, Marie, says line dancing used to carry a "stigma".

"When I would go with my mum and I was in high school, you wouldn't tell anyone you were doing line dancing," Marie recalls.

Line dancing involves people following a choreographed set of steps while arranged in lines, facing the instructor.

It has no single origin, but draws on folk dance traditions across Europe and Africa and was consolidated as a dance style within the US country music scene in the 20th Century.

As a low-impact exercise that doesn't require a partner, it became popular with older people when it first migrated to the UK - but it appears that's all changing.

Each track also has a set dance so, once someone has learned the steps, they can join in with it at any dance hall - worldwide.

Natalie, who is 41, says she would once have been the youngest person in the room at a line dancing event.

But at a recent gathering she had a "culture shock" when she realised she was actually the oldest attendee.

"It's really nice to see that the stereotype has been broken and that we're not village halls of retired people," says Natalie, from Neath.

Natalie used to be a "prolific" line dancer during her childhood, but gave up after thinking "it wasn't cool".

That all changed two years ago, when she bumped into an old friend who encouraged her to return.

Natalie says the dance has changed significantly in the past 20 years and no longer fits into "a niche box", with routines to everything from Metallica to Abba and Ed Sheeran.

She says newer country artists - such as Lainey Wilson, Ella Langley and Megan Maroney - were showing "the days of fringes and acoustic guitars and standing on the stage with as many rhinestones as possible singing about losing your dog and a divorce" are long gone.

TikTok dance trends, to songs like Dasha's Austin and Sabrina Carpenter's Manchild, also feature line dancing steps.

Many have jumped on these trends without even realising they are taking part in the dance style.

"I think that's definitely put [line dancing] into the views of more people than it would have reached before," says Natalie.

Amy Ray-Jones, 29, who grew up listening to country music, started line dancing earlier this year and says social media has been "a huge help" in widening the scope.

"We don't just dance to country, which I think is some of the appeal too... I know so many dances to Pitbull songs."

Amy, from Flintshire, says meeting people is another crucial element of her "addiction" to line dancing.

"As a woman in her late 20s, it's quite hard to make friends... [but] there's always someone free to dance with.

"It's honestly the most fun I've had."

Line dancing last had a resurgence in the 1990s following the release of Billy Rae Cyrus's Achy Breaky Heart.

It was then that Luke Shrimpton, then 10 years old, first got a taste for it.

"I went to a country music night with my best friend and his parents. I was bored, so I started copying the dances on the floor," he recalls.

The 39-year-old NHS worker now teaches line dancing four nights a week and puts rising demand down to artists such as Post Malone, Shaboozey and Luke Combs popularising country or country-inspired tracks.

"It's just gone from strength to strength," says Luke, from Swansea.

"The younger generation are getting hooked on country in a way we never did... It's becoming more socially acceptable to like country music," he says.

Luke met his wife through line dancing and their three children now take part too.

"I feel lucky and privileged that it's been part of my life."

As well as the community aspect of the dance, keeping fit is another major draw for those who take part.

"I'm a big girl and exercise is obviously important, but you've got to find an exercise that you like," says Natalie.

"If you said to me 'walk up and down the stairs' I'd be out of breath, but on a Wednesday night I can do about 8,000 steps in two hours and think absolutely nothing of it."

When Natalie's job in the insurance industry becomes "taxing and stressful", she knows she can switch off at class.

"I've done lots of different dancing over the years and there's no community like the line dancing community."

As for teenage line dancing instructor Ava, she thinks there's still a way to go in making line dancing mainstream, but feels it is getting there - one scroll, like and share at a time.