Country dancing is a social activity with a very long history. Jane Austen is a famous raconteur of dance - at the age of 33 she was amazed that she was invited to dance as generally it was seen as a younger persons activity at that time. English Country Dance has origins even earlier, with many written forms dating after 1651 when Henry Playford gathered together fashionable dances and published them as "The Dancing Master".
Societies which promote this form of dance are [CDSS]http://www.cdss.org in the US, and [EFDSS] http://www.efdss.org in the UK
Variants of this form with many participants crossing between the forms are:
Modern English Country Dance
Contra Dancing
Ceilidh dancing
Playford Dancing
Barn dancing