On almost any given night of the week, you can find a group of linedancers tearing up the dance floor in tiny West Australian towns.
They travel hundreds of kilometres between towns while dodging kangaroos to practise their routines on well-worn timber floors.
These bootscooters are also breathing life back into heritage buildings scattered throughout the state's South West forest region.
Line dancing is not only encouraging these farmers and their friends to stay fit and healthy, but it is providing a sense of community and even allowing lonely hearts to find love once again.
A holistic and fun exercise option
Terrie Clifford moved to the South West community of Pemberton about eight years ago and decided to join the local bootscooting class as a way to get to know people in her new home.
She is now one of the dance teachers that travels between the nearby halls, helping beginners with the steps and often bringing new choreography into the mix.
"It's a holistic activity," she said.
"It's fantastic exercise, there's a social component and we have a ball together.
"It's good for your brain coordination too, it's just perfect."
It's not always country music that Terrie and her fellow dancers groove along to. They recently learned a viral bootscooting routine to an Ed Sheeran song released in 2021.
"That dance is a fun dance but we can do it to any other music as well," Ms Clifford said.
"That's what we like to pride ourselves in — we learn a dance and we learn it to the music that it was designed for, and then we can translate it across to lots of other pieces of music.
"Just pick up the beat and off we go."
Finding new love on the dancefloor
While the weekly bootscooting sessions in Pemberton and nearby Middlesex are usually made up of a group of locals, dancers travel far and wide to take part in bigger, monthly gatherings hosted by the South West Country Music Club.
In the coastal town of Australind, Graeme Edwards and Barbara Beresford have travelled 160 kilometres from Perth to waltz around the dance floor.
They met at a similar event 12 years ago and now try to attend as many dances as they can, wearing distinct matching outfits.
"I got started in dancing when I met Barbara and found out it was one of her loves. So I just followed through with it," Mr Edwards said.
"Distance is no problem for us, down here the people are really friendly.
"We get a better cross-section of music here than in Perth and it gives us a chance to get away and have a break."
As for the shirts, Mr Edwards said the couple had them specially made in Thailand.
"We've got dozens, all different colours and different styles."
Country music club brings the live bands
Overseeing the Australind country dancing event is Sue Moloney, president of the South West Country Music Club.
She dipped her toes in the linedancing pool when her husband was away on shift work and she didn't want to stay home alone.
"People can gather from all walks of life to any town in the South West with a shared common goal of dancing," Ms Moloney said.
"We do have a few people that started out single and are now in a couples arrangement.
"And I'm finding that it's an ideal place for single people, especially women, to go and meet others and feel safe."
The country dancing events hosted by the club rotate between different venues and always provide an impressive live band.
"There are country towns that don't have a country music club," Ms Moloney said.
"So by being the South West Club, we can go to the smaller towns and breathe a little bit of extra life in.
"Those town halls have so much heritage in them and so much feeling."
Childhood memories in restored town hall
Bill Phillips used to dance and play tennis at the Dingup Hall, not far down the road from Middlesex, in the 1950s with his brother.
The local farmer now works on a committee dedicated to restoring the hall and running the dance practices and parties.
"Back in the 50s, you used to pay a yearly fee of three pounds to be a member here," he said.
"You could play all the tennis you wanted and when they had dances, the hall was always full."
Mr Phillips said they had some exceptional dancers at the hall and big committees.
"It was all run by farmers from out east of here and I can remember all those guys, but they're all gone," he said.
"Now we're trying our hardest to pick it up."
Along with the Dingup Hall, the Shire of Manjimup is also home to the Middlesex Hall and Pemberton Mill Hall.
Shire president Paul Omodei held his own wedding reception in the Pemberton venue.
He has watched on as a small committee of dedicated linedancers have helped find a new purpose for the building.
Cr Omodei said there had been a "bit of a resurgence of dancing" in the local community.
"This hall was on the edge of being demolished — it was in such poor state. The roof was gone. The stumps were gone," he said.
"It's not inexpensive [to restore old buildings] but it's pretty important to have that history for the community.
"It does your heart good to see a hall like this come back to life, to bring the history back, and to be able to do things like dancing."
