Line Dance History Australia
Line Dance History Australia
Australia's Line Dance Origins
A Historical Journey
Unveiling Australia's Line Dancing Heritage
It is through Country Goss' Magazine that we begin our 1986 historical journey as we share the many fascinating stories that have evolved over the years, including Australia's Line Dance Origins.
We would love to have your input
This article is by no means the entirety of those early days, it is just the beginning. We expect this page to constantly grow, as readers, instructors and dancers share their memories of line dancing's evolution Australia wide. Already, our history is being lost and forgotten, especially those old photos of the Paddington Green, Mars (Pheadra's) and Terminus pioneers.
Trevor Smith's Origin Highlights
Including the Historic BOOTSCOOT Manual
In the July/August 1996 edition of Country Goss', Trevor Smith, one of our line dance pioneers, recalled in great detail, Australia's early line dance origins. We are pleased to share the highlights of Trevor's article with you below. Trevor also donated to Country Goss' at the time, a fabulous piece of line dance history, Australia’s first ever Line Dance Manual titled BOOTSCOOT by Maxcy Moon which we have meticulously reviewed and reprinted for the purposes of viewing on this website.
But first, in Trevor's own words.......
"It was an eye opening experience to have seen the beginnings of bootscooting in Australia, as humble as they were, to what it has risen to. It is also exceptionally satisfying and gives me a feeling of great pride knowing that I have seen its beginnings across Australia. I would like to pay tribute to Geoff Perkins who through a love of bootscooting could see just what fun could be attained through this dance. It is unfortunate that Geoff is no longer with us 'god rest his soul'. Today the heritage of aussie bootscoot can be traced back to Geoff Perkins Ian Wilby, Ken Wheatley and others and I was lucky enough to know them all. Hat's off to you. Remember we are the pioneers of the best toe tappin, knee slappin' yee-haa'n good times this country has ever seen. Keep your smile nice and bright, put on your hat and pull on your jeans, cause we're going bootscootin' tonight".
Trevor Smith 1996.
Those very early years... So, where did it all begin?
Campaign Australia magazine in 1988. Source: Supplied / National Library of Australia
The Year: 1986 Australia
The Paddington Green Hotel in Sydney
In August 1986 Line Dancing or “Bootscooting” as it was commonly referred, was introduced to Australia by Mr Geoff Perkins of Lilyfield in Sydney. As a regular visitor to the USA, Geoff had come across Bootscooting and saw a fun form of dance and exercise with great music that could be enjoyed by everyone. It was relatively unknown in Australia, and best of all, it didn’t require a dance partner.
Following one of those visits to the USA, Geoff returned to Australia with a booklet of invaluable dance routines. Titled “BOOTSCOOT” and along with friends Ian Wilby, Ken Wheatley, Mark and Trevor Smith, set up Australia’s very first line dance class at the Paddington Green Hotel in Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney. There were 12 beginners.
“Bootscoot” or the Bootscooter’s Bible, as Geoff’s dance book later became known amongst the Paddington Green Hotel dancers, was written by Maxcy Moon of the USA and consisted of seventeen (17) dance routines along with a glossary of around twenty-two (22) Terms & Steps. We have now re-published this fabulous piece of line dance history for your enjoyment.
The Imperial Hotel Sydney
Just as Geoff's line dance classes were beginning to take off, the Paddington Green was sold. The classes relocated to the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville (in Sydney’s inner west) however due to other work commitments at the time, Geoff decided to hand the classes over to Ian Wilby where they continued to prosper and grow.
Ian later took on the name Bootscoot Sydney Australia and made application to the Australia Intellectual Property Office (IP Australia) to Trademark both the name and his logo. The application was filed under Class 041 covering the teaching of Country and Western dances. A second application under Class 025 extended to branded clothing apparel. Records from IP Australia identified the logo as "2 Boots on 2 Stacked Diamonds crossed by Trapezium". Whilst Ian was granted a Trademark Application Number, it is believed the applications subsequently lapsed. The logo drew a striking resemblance to the cover of Maxcy Moon's Bootscoot Manual.
The Terminus Night Club Brisbane
In 1988 Trevor Smith and his brother Mark moved to Queensland, starting classes at the Terminus Night Club in Brisbane with the help and support of Neil McLucas and Steven Claffey. Terry Hogan, line dance teacher and choreographer, would be one of their original students.
The Mars Bar Adelaide
With a strong connection to Brisbane and the Instructors of the 1988 dance scene, Alan Hibberd and his partner commenced "Bootscoot" classes at the Mars Bar (formerly Phaedra's) in central Adelaide, also widely referred to as the Cactus Patch because of its décor which featured potted cacti against glam orange walls. Unfortunately, Allan passed away in the latter part of the 90's and thereafter his partner moved (back) to Queensland. Described as flamboyant and wonderful dance hosts, little else is known of the couple.
Broadview Scout Hall
By 1993, line dancing had moved into Adelaide's mainstream with the first public beginner class at the Broadview Scout Hall with instructor Peter Heath. An accomplished square dancer, Peter came upon line dancing from a Tamworth video. With his interest sparked and an uncanny offer to demonstrate line dancing at a local nightclub, Peter quickly pulled together a group of square dance friends, learnt a few routines and undertook his first paid gig. Outgrowing the Broadview Scout Hall, the classes relocated to the Walkerville YMCA before expanding across South Australia. In Tamworth 2020, Peter Heath's Line Dancers of South Australia were awarded the “Opal Boot Award” from the Line Dance Association of Australia for contributions to line dancing.
Perth, Western Australia
Meanwhile in April 1992 following many years on Australia's east coast, Mark and Trevor Smith had moved quietly to the other side of the continent to Western Australia, setting up classes in Perth as the Silver Spurs. Classes were held once a week, were free with around 45 beginners. Having attracted a reasonable following, Mark and Trevor changed the name of their club to Mustangs and set about promoting line dancing's image. Then (in Trevor's own words) "it all happened"! At around the same time as a full page editorial and a 10 minute prime time television expose on "bootscooting" with the Mustangs, Billy Ray Cyrus released his smash hit Achy Breaky Heart and overnight the Mustangs classes boomed from 45 to 187 dancers. Classes were held in halls, car parks or wherever they could fit the huge numbers. Line dancing had arrived in WA. The rest you could say - is history!
Melbourne - COMING SOON
Melbourne's true beginnings with John Bishop.
The Early Pioneers of Australia's Line Dancing
Out of those early years at Paddington and Erskineville's Imperial Hotel with Geoff Perkins, Ian Wilby, Ken Wheatley, Mark and Trevor Smith, evolved the Australian Line Dancers (ALD). It would be ALD's Tony Burns, Tony Coggin, John Taverner and friends that would pioneer the Longest Line in Tamworth, NSW.
ALD would also produce the first Australian line dance magazine “Between the Lines”.
Tony Coggin & John Taverner
The Rise of Influential Teachers and Choreographers from ALD
Some of Australia’s best-known teachers, choreographers and personalities would emerge from ALD including Gordon Elliott, Lance Pritchard, Terry Kelly, David Dickson, Mark Simpkin, Tracie Lee, Tina Salvestro and Lisa Harper.
Tracie, Mark and Lance, would later start classes and social dancing at the Ermington Hotel, after which Lance would move to the Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club (Sydney). David commenced classes at the Marrickville Community Centre and Wentworthville Leagues Club in Sydney whilst the Leichhardt Bowling Club (Sydney) would go on to be the venue of choice for Terry Kelly's very popular daytime sessions. Tina remained a pivotal figure in ALD demonstrations and would work very closely with Gordon Elliott.
Lisa Harper, also a prominent clogging instructor, would soon move to Brisbane, teaming up with Mark and Trevor Smith before commencing her own classes on the Gold Coast Hinterland (Queensland) at the Jimboomba Tavern and Beaudesert Bowls Club.
One of David’s original students, Julie Talbot, would take over David's Sydney classes when he moved interstate in 1989.
The Songs and Dances of the late 80's
According to Country Goss' and Australia's Original Bootscoot Manual there were just 17 line dances to choose from back in the late 80's at the Paddington Green Hotel. However, with no reference to the music that the dance was choreographed to, Geoff Perkins and his dancers would have had to choose their own songs.
Using the vague notes scribbled across various pages of the Manual and along with some archival digging by Line Dance History Australia, we now know at least 10 of their 17 original music selections from the late 80's. Here are just three of those dances with video links to the original music at that time. See the Bootscoot Manual for the rest.
(1) San Antonio Stroll danced to the song of the same name by Tanya Tucker, this was a circle dance that could be done in groups of two, three or four making it a whole lot of fun on the dance floor,
(2) Cowboy Hustle danced to "Heartaches by the Number" by Dwight Yoakam,
(3) Ten Step danced to Mule Skinner Blues by Mary Schneider. All three of these dances would have been very popular at the above venues.
INTERESTING FACT: Mary Schneider is the mother of Melinda Schneider who would go on to have her own smash line dance hit Tighten Up Your Pants nearly a decade later!
Further handwritten notes on the inside jacket of the Bootscoot Manual suggest more dances from the USA were in the pipeline. They included - Touche (Tush) Push, Butt Stop, Elvira, Flying Aces, Reggae Cowboy, Circle Jerk, Roll Back The Rug and Tumbleweed. Several of these would go on to become all-time classics. Hopefully these old timers bring back some great memories for you or a newfound appreciation of those early laid-back years.
The one Song that Supercharged Everything
In March 1992 Billy Ray Cyrus released his smash hit Achy Breaky Heart. Leading the charge from old country to new country, the song quickly crossed over to Top 40 radio and spawned its own dance "The Achy Breaky". It was ubiquitous. Suddenly, everybody, everywhere, wanted to learn "that dance". Who would have guessed, from humble beginnings at the Paddington Green Hotel with just 12 dancers, line dancing was set to become a national phenomenon overnight! Love it or hate it, the Achy Breaky got us all line dancing!
Line Dancing Hotspots of the 1990's
However, it was the Arizona Cowboy Bar, a hotspot for instructors, local dancers and American sailors that set the scene abuzz! Hosted every Wednesday evening by instructor, DJ and 2RRR radio presenter Robyn Skinner, the Arizona Cowboy Bar was the hottest place to be for all the latest dances and American country music. It wouldn't be unusual to see an American sailor rip off his cowboy boot, fill it with beer and throw it down the hatch! What a wild night out!
Embracing the rising phenomenon in early 1990, Sydney would soon see the rise of four very important dance venues, the Harold Park Hotel, the Ermington Hotel, the Arizona Cowboy Bar and the Wentworthville Leagues Club, all being strong supporters of line dancing and country music.
Robyn Skinner
Rare Footage from Yesteryear
We have managed to locate some very early footage of three of these venues. The Arizona Bar footage features lots of familiar faces coming and going on the dance floor throughout the night including Tracie Lee, David Dickson, Julie Talbot, Mark Simpkin, David Jones and Robyn Skinner. See anyone you know? Recognise the music or dance routines?
Line Dancing and its Relationship with Country Music Radio
Kelvin Dale, popular radio presenter, instructor, choreographer and line dancer, takes a historical look at country music radio and the huge impact local radio stations and presenters have had on line dancing throughout Australia.
"It is common knowledge that any dance form requires music so that performers, students, instructors and choreographers have a basis for styling. Line dancing is no different. In its earliest form, this genre of music was country and so our dance style was often referred to as country line dancing or bootscooting". Kelvin Dale.
Community Radio
This genre of music was not common on commercial radio 30 or so years ago but could be found on regional and on a variety of community radio stations, including:
2SER with Barbara Mossison and Bazza, 2RRR with Robyn Skinner and Ken Date, 2CCC with Mike Kennedy, Caroline Carr, Ian Lovegrove, Ian Betteridge, Lyn McKenzie, Ted Kale and Ray Ekins, 2SWR with Greg & Dawn, 2RDJ with Sheryn Wakeling, 2GLF with Trevor Chandler, 2VOX FM with Trevor Green, Lee and Greg, 2AIR FM with Kelvin Dale, 5UV with Rob Tillmouth, HKR 100.1FM, 2TM Tamworth and 4WK Darling Downs, just to name a few.
Whilst there were varying degrees of licencing and regulation in the radio broadcasting industry, Australia's first community radio station to be licensed was 5UV (now Radio Adelaide) in 1972 in Adelaide. Since then, the sector has seen rapid development, with over 75% growth in permanently licensed stations in the last decade. Community radio stations operate nationwide, with 76% in regional and remote areas and 24% in metropolitan areas.
Adapting to a Line Dance Audience
In the early days there were many community radio stations in place across Australia with radio shows presented by line dance personalities including Trevor Green, Bill Larson and Jon Peppin (979 FM). As line dancing's popularity increased, a number of community radio stations and their DJs began to run shows that were dedicated solely to a line dancing audience, and if allowed by their station they could play a variety of music genres that were line dance relevant. I was part of the Community Radio Network on a station based in the Penrith area called AIR FM and the show I assisted on, before taking over, was called “Red Hot & Country”. We played country music whether there was a dance choreographed to it or not and that was the theme of the show.
Programs Dedicated to Line Dance
Trevor Chandler's 2GLF FM show had an entire "request program" dedicated to line dancing where dancers could ring in and ask for any particular music. One of Australia's most prominent and popular DJ's Grizzly (Adam) Parker and myself were regular guests on Trevor’s program, updating audiences with all the latest news and dance tracks. Grizzly also hosted popular socials that were broadcast live to radio networks such as Cool Country Radio and the Kick AM1269 Dance Ranches with Julie Talbot.
As choreography developed to encompass all music genres (pop, rock R&B, etc), radio stations could be playing “line dance” music at any time without even realizing it.
Enter Internet Radio 24/7
As time moved on and technology improved, internet radio programs began to cover a wide range of both music and dance needs. Linedancer Radio, based in the UK, soon met the needs of international listeners broadcasting line dance music 24/7 around the world with live shows interwoven in its structure.
Darren Mitchell, instructor, choreographer and DJ was the first Australian to have a live program on Linedancer Radio broadcasting our impact on line dancing to a wide international audience. When Darren “retired” from his show, I was invited to do what Darren had started and that was to give the overseas listeners an insight to what was new & hot on our Aussie dance floors, relive classic Australian choreography and interview guests involved in our industry. This show broadcasts from an app on your phone or an app on your device and listeners can “talk” with DJs broadcasting live through a Facebook chatroom. Australian content is played on many of the shows.
Community Radio in Australia Celebrates 50+ years
Each week, nearly 5 million Australians tune in to over 450 not-for-profit, community-owned radio stations across the country. These stations deliver programming tailored to the interests and needs of their local communities, reflecting Australia's open society, strong democracy, and vibrant culture, playing a crucial role in serving groups often overlooked by mainstream media.
Thanks to our Community Volunteers
Barbara Morison, with 43 years behind the microphone, is just one of Community Radio's many volunteers. As one of 2SER’s longest serving volunteers, Barbara has become a renowned figure in Australian Country music. Host of All Kinds Of Country, she was the winner of the Country Music Association of Australia award for Legacy Industry in 2024 – a huge and very well deserved honour!
What are your memories of community radio? Did you have a favourite station or DJ? Let us know at linedancehistoryaustralia@gmail.com
Country Goss' - Newsletter to National Magazine
With American country music and "Bootscooting" sweeping Australia and the interest in line dance classes and activities surging, a small non-descript newsletter was circulated amongst industry stakeholders in 1994 seeking to provide a forum for business and dancers to come together. That newsletter was Country Goss' and over 6 years, would go on to capture line dancing's popularity worldwide. Check out that simple newsletter now and each subsequent issue as it is re-released bi-monthly. Some fun reading!
The Bootscooting Boom
Today there are hundreds of instructors, dance groups, line dance festivals, competitions, country music radio stations, DJ's and line dance websites Australia wide. Some of the early pioneers are no longer with us however it is through their legacy that Line Dancing now lives on bigger and stronger than ever.
What's Your Story?
What are your memories of line dancing in your suburb, town or state? Did you start up brand new classes as a teacher, or attend new classes in your area? Send us your line dance story and a photo for the historic Photo Wall. Be a part of Australia's Line Dance History.
Or email your photo and share your story at: linedancehistoryaustralia@gmail.com
Australia's Original Bootscoot Manual
“BOOTSCOOT” written by Maxcy Moon and introduced into Australia in 1986. Consisting of seventeen (17) original dance routines along with a glossary of around twenty-two (22) terms & steps.
