Barn Dance

A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building.

Pieter Breughel the Younger, Wedding Dance in a Barn (c. 1616)

Dance program including the barn dance. Traditional dancing (2016)

The term “barn dance” is usually associated with family-oriented or community-oriented events, usually for people who do not normally dance. The caller will, therefore, generally use easy dances so that everyone can join in.

A barn dance can be a ceilidh, with traditional Irish or Scottish dancing, and people unfamiliar with either format often confuse the two terms. However, a barn dance can also feature square dancing, contra dancing, English country dance, dancing to country and western music, or any other kind of dancing, often with a live band and a caller. Modern western square dance is often confused with barn dancing in Britain.

Barn dances, as social dances, were popular in Ireland until the 1950s, and were typically danced to tunes with 4

4 rhythms.