News / Entertainment
Line up and prepare to strut your stuff
Meet the boot scooters bringing line dancing to Brunswick
Edwina Berry
ON a Thursday evening at the Quadraphonic Club in Victoria Street in Brunswick, two urban cowgirls are leading the way.
Under the cosy glow of fairy lights and a disco ball, several rows of line dancers follow each move from their instructors, Abigail Varney and Alice Glenn.
Together, Varney and Glenn make up Country Struts Boot Scooting, which has become a surprising hit in Melbourne’s inner north.
What started as a weekly class in a community hall in Thornbury has now expanded to regular classes in Brunswick, St Kilda and Castlemaine, as well as twice-yearly hoedowns with hundreds of people. A few weeks ago, they led a large crowd of line dancers at the annual Golden Plains festival.
Varney is a formally trained dancer and photographer, while Glenn is the entrepreneur behind No Lights No Lycra and Schoolhouse Studios in Coburg.
In class, they teach and perform as their alter egos – ‘rodeo dance queen’ Gail and ‘concrete cowpoke’ Glenn.
Their banter on stage keeps everyone laughing as they step through classic line dancing moves: toe kicks, heel taps, grapevines, a slide. They mix Country roots with a distinct modern flavour, with tunes from Country legends like Dolly Parton to contemporary artists like Amyl and The Sniffers.
The pair aim to create a space where people feel safe to give line dancing a go.
“A lot of people who maybe wouldn’t go to other more dancey classes come to line dancing because we keep it very beginner,” says Varney.
“[It’s] all consuming and joyful. People come out and they’re boiling, and they realise, ‘whoa, this is a bit of a workout as well!’”
Varney and Glenn first fell in love with line dancing during the pandemic, when their friends started teaching routines over Zoom as a way to stay connected.
Once the pandemic was over, Glenn had the feeling that this old-timey hobby had the potential to become something more.
“I think Alice knew that it had legs,” explains Varney. “But we had no idea that it would be so popular. We went into it absolutely blind. And then popular culture [around Country music] really took off – like with the Beyoncé album and a lot of pop artists wanting to get into the country charts. I think it was just the wave of that and all the related fashion.”
But perhaps just as important as the upswing of Country music is Melburnians’ renewed appreciation for social activities post-pandemic.
“It was the perfect time to regroup after Covid. Covid ended, and maybe people needed that push to do things like this,” says Varney. “It’s low stakes. It’s not so much pressure as sitting down somewhere and you get to do an activity together. I feel like that’s why it really works.”
Coming from a formal ballet tradition where hierarchy and skill excludes many, Varney hopes that Country Struts can offer the opposite.
“It’s the antithesis of that,” she says. “Everyone’s welcome. We just want to break all that down as much as we can. We’re all doing this silly thing together and having lots of fun.”
The classes have devoted regular attendees as well as people trying line dancing for the first time.
Fawkner resident Georgia Carthew first discovered Country Struts through Instagram.
“I’d wanted to go for a while and then I convinced a friend to come along to try it with me,” she says.
Now nearly 12 months after her first class, Carthew is hooked.
“I love the teachers. I love that you burn off some energy and have a lot of fun,” she says. “It’s great physical exercise and is also great for mental health. It’s actually one of the highlights of my week”.
Brunswick locals Cath Healy and Bronwyn Tanti attended Country Struts for the first time this month.
“[My daughter] came all of last year and loved it so much,” explains Healy. “She kept saying to me, ‘You have to come!’ And I would say to her, ‘Well sure, but are there any other old people there?’”
The classes are indeed a mix of all ages and genders and, while they do skew towards a younger crowd, there is a welcoming, non-judgemental vibe.
When asked about their impressions of the first class, Tanti says with a smile, “It was fun! Hard, but fun.”
“You can watch someone else who knows what they’re doing,” counters Healy. “We just haven’t done anything like that before. I mean we used to do the grapevine in the ‘80s and ‘90s at aerobics, so we can do that bit.”
While Varney and Glenn are bringing a fresh perspective to line dancing, they have nothing but respect for the established institutions in Victoria – like Cowboy Culture, which has been teaching line dancing for decades.
“They’ve been doing it for 30 years and are just amazing teachers,” says Varney. “While we’re still learning the lingo.”
Now 18 months into the journey, Varney reflects on the time so far.
“The first six months was just electric,” she says. “We didn’t have big crowds at all, but I would come home, and I was just buzzing. That was such a rush, because it was so grassroots.”
“We still totally get the buzz but there is work in keeping it going – really reflecting on what’s working. You get to see people improve and come back and I get so much joy out of that.”
Country Struts classes run at 6.00pm and 7.15pm on Thursday evenings at the Quad Club, 345 Victoria Street, Brunswick. Tickets can be purchased via www.countrystruts.com. They can also be found on Instagram @CountryStruts
Support independent local journalism
We are an independent hyperlocal news organisation owned and run by the people in your community. With your support, we can continue to produce unique and valuable local journalism for Brunswick and the inner north of Melbourne.
