Hello GUEST,chloe!

From reading a version of "Cotton Eye Joe" that I have from 1922 {Thomas W. Talley "Negro Folk Rhymes"} my guess is that the individual dance steps that were done would have names that are no longer familiar to people nowadays. But it seems that the dances were performed with onlookers standing around in a circle watching couples {man/woman} dance together. In a couple of songs there are references to swinging your partner and wheeling and turning.

Some instrumental tunes and songs became associated with certain movements {dance steps} and so people would say that they were dancing "Cotton Eyed Joe". But I would imagine that the dance steps could be used for other tunes and songs too, just like today with the "Chicken Noodle Soup" song and its dance movements. Or since many of these 19th century dances had a person who called out which movements people would do, maybe it would be closer to say that "Cotton Eye Joe" was more like the instructional dance songs & social dances such as the dancehall reggae song "Pon Di River (Pon Di Bank)" by Elephant Man.

Maybe the dances that people did way back when were something like USA square dances or country dances.

If you can get YouTube, click on this video for an example of a square dance done to the song "Jingle Bell Rock".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=memvr99utdc

Best wishes,

Azizi

Btw, if anyone here knows any more about what Chloe is asking, I'd love to learn more about this and I don't mind being corrected.