Sophie Pedder
speaker
103 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 31 Aug
Sophie Pedder’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
It's August and in rural France it's the time for the street fets in villages across the country.
And to get locals on their feet, a DJ just has to utter the words Le Madison.
And villagers will step into line formation and perform a line dance.
They're featured in Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 film Bonde à part.
Line dancing is a choreographed dance.
A group of people stand in one or more lines or rows and execute exactly the same steps in sync.
There's no physical contact with the partner.
Line dancing gained popularity in America in the 1970s at the time of the disco craze.
And then there was a resurgence in the 90s after the smash hit Aiky Breakey Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus.
It's gained popularity again in the US in recent times.
And so it has in France.
There's been a growing subculture with a dedicated following.
The Francophone Federation of Country Dance and Line Dance lists more than 500 clubs across the country.
In a poll, nearly one in ten adults said that they'd taken part in line dancing.
It's not just a hobby to do on a Tuesday night.
For some people, this is a competitive sport.
In May, the southern town of Salon de Provence hosted the French Line Dance Open.
So why is line dancing so popular in France?
It's a country that likes to think of itself as a place of hybrid culture and artistic sophistication.
Think of the ballet, opera or classical music.
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