Line dancing makes a comeback in Syracuse, one boot scoot at a time
Line dancing makes a comeback in Syracuse
Line dancing has found a new home in Syracuse, and the people who show up say it is about far more than the steps.
On Wednesday nights at Middle Ages Brewing Company on Wilkinson Street, the taps are open and the floors are moving. Up to 200 people show up to learn line dances led by instructor Greg Hale of Shotgun Line Dancers, coached through the steps by strangers who quickly stop being strangers.
It’s that kind of night that Julianna Fahrenz, founder of Erie and Ivy Events, had in mind when she partnered with Middle Ages to launch the weekly series. Fahrenz said she first tried line dancing two years ago when her mother suggested it as a low-key outing. She showed up not knowing a single step and left with an experience she didn’t expect.
“A bunch of the girls who were already out on the dance floor started calling out, ‘Left, right, left,’ and coaching us through it,” Fahrenz said. “I immediately felt comfort in that connection, that they actually wanted my friend and me to succeed.”
She said that experience stuck with her and eventually shaped how she thinks about running events.
“We have nothing like that in Syracuse, really in a lot of places, that brings all of those people together in such a low-pressure environment,” Fahrenz said.
Fahrenz said part of what makes the Wednesday nights work is the music. Hale’s sets move between classic country and artists like Pitbull and Britney Spears, which she said helps pull in people who might otherwise tune out at the word ‘country.’
“It helps all of us connect through a love of music and just having a good time,” she said. “There’s really no pressure to perform. We’re all learning together.”
Michael Perotti has been line dancing on and off for roughly 40 years. He was in the room on a recent Wednesday, doing what he always does: dancing and quietly making sure the people around him felt comfortable enough to keep trying.
“You’ve got to be able to laugh at yourself a little bit,” Perotti said. “It takes time. You’re not going to pick it up the first time. But the more you do it, the better you get.”
Perotti said Syracuse once had line dancing six days a week, at venues like the Toby Keith bar and a place called Cowboys. Both eventually closed. For years after, he drove to Verona, Binghamton, Buffalo and Rochester to find a floor worth dancing on.
“There was a real desire to have something closer in Syracuse instead of traveling,” he said. “I think it’s here to stay.”
That desire for something local is exactly what pushed two brothers to start their own operation on campus at Syracuse University. Jackson Carrier, a fourth-year architecture student, and his brother Xavier, a sophomore in the business school, grew up in Las Vegas dancing at their neighborhood country bar on Friday nights. When Jackson arrived in Syracuse, he found nothing like it.
After returning from a semester abroad in Florence, he decided to build it himself. His first move was walking the club sports fair and asking people at every table if they had ever wanted to learn to line dance.
“The resounding answer was yes,” he said. “Most people had never tried it, but thought it looked fun.”
About 30 to 40 people expressed interest. The brothers launched Stoney’s Cuse, beginning with Saturday events in Xavier’s backyard on South Campus and Thursday lessons for more hands-on instruction. When Syracuse winters made outdoor gatherings impossible, they moved inside, cycling through the Sky Barn at Skytop, the Ukrainian National Home near Coleman’s and off-campus venues as space became available. Events run $5 a person to cover the cost of renting the space.
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Xavier said he sees the growth on campus as part of a broader national moment.
“There’s a big movement toward honky-tonk, dance hall, line dancing-type events,” Xavier said. “People are looking for something to do that’s more than just going out and drinking or going to a house party.”
Jackson pointed to a generational shift as part of what’s fueling that appetite.
“People in our generation don’t drink as much,” he said. “So people are looking for alternatives and for ways to be uncomfortable in a good way.”
His motto for Stoney’s Cuse captures what he wants people to feel when they walk in.
“Embarrassment is an under-explored emotion,” Jackson said. “You might as well go out there and make a fool of yourself.”
Adriana Haydarova, a senior advertising major at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, was among the first ten people to show up to Jackson and Xavier’s early Thursday practices, a group she and others now call “the originals.” She had never line danced before but grew up doing ballroom and waltz and found in line dancing something she hadn’t been able to find elsewhere on campus.
“When you’re at line dancing, there’s no such thing as ‘too much,'” Haydarova said. “You have people who dance in different ways, but it’s so inclusive and you’re all in this together.”
She said she believes something deeper is driving the resurgence across Syracuse and beyond.
“Our generation is a COVID generation, we’re so used to Zoom and being on our phones,” she said. “The old-school connections our grandparents or parents had are more similar to what you get at line dancing than at a typical night out. People want that.”
Jackson said watching someone go from hesitant first-timer to confident regular is a large part of why he keeps doing it.
“Seeing someone walk in not even knowing which way to put their feet, and then a couple of months later they know most of the dances and can help others,” he said. “That smile, that little fist-bump moment when people get it, it’s awesome.”
A large campus event is in the works for later this semester, according to the brothers. At Middle Ages, the Wednesday gatherings keep coming. And somewhere across Syracuse, a group of people who never thought they would be line dancers are putting on cowboy boots and heading out the door.
