Do you prefer that your boogie is electric or boot scootin’? Has your cupid ever shuffled? Join us for an evening of line dancing at "Sounds on the Square: Courthouse Crawling" on Friday, September 1, 2023, on the beautiful brick Plaza of the Historic Henry County Courthouse, 7:00-10:00 P.M. Sue Ann Ehmann, line dance extraordinaire, will lead the masses of all levels, from beginner to expert, while special DJ Mary Kaye Johnson turns the tunes.
Admission is free. Beginning at 5:30 P.M., Scuffle Hill Brewing Company will serve craft beer and wine in non-disposable, collectable event cups. Ella’s Eats will sell Southern comfort food, and Bahama Sno-Shack will sell frozen treats.
Country line dancing appears to have originated in Europe and arrived in the United States with the settlers who immigrated to America. They evolved from the English country dances, or contra dances, that were danced in the New England states of the U.S. in the early 1800s. Today's country line dancing was probably born in Nashville, Tennessee, when the song “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus became a huge hit in 1992, and country line dancing was catapulted into the mainstream.
Sue Ann Ehmann graduated from Patrick County High School and studied communications at the University of Miami. She began dancing in 1990 with the Carolina Shag. She moved into line dancing, and since 2005, has been teaching line dance classes on a regular basis in Virginia and North Carolina. She attends workshops frequently to remain current. Her choreographed dances have won at JG Marathon, an annual international event held in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has been featured in Linedancer Magazine. Sue Ann and her husband, Ron Brammer, reside in the Stella community.
In a recent interview, Ehmann stated, “Line dancing is a whole other world. New dances are written every single day.” She said line dancing has many benefits for her and is a dance that people of any age can learn. It improves balance and stability, is great exercise, and is thought by scientists to be beneficial to people experiencing Parkinson’s symptoms and in staving off Alzheimer’s Disease, she added.
"Sounds on the Square" is coordinated by the Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society and sponsored by Carter Bank & Trust, Children First Pediatrics, Hooker Furnishings, The Lester Group, and Sarver Cleaning Services. The Historic Henry County Courthouse and Plaza are fully handicap-accessible.