What, except for loads of fun?


Round Dancing is a sort of American folk dancing that is very similar to ballroom dancing. There are, just as in ballroom dancing, the smooth rhythms (non-Latin) Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Slowfox, Quickstep and the Latin rhythms Rhumba, Cha Cha, Samba, Mambo, Paso Doble and Jive. There are, apart from those, also Disco Fox, West Coast Swing and Two-Step.
Different, however, to ballroom dancing is that no routines need to be learned by heart. But every single figure is announced by the dance leader, the cuer, right to the music.
That, on the one hand, makes the whole thing easier, because there is not so much that needs to be known by heart. On the other hand it diversifies the dance, since it is not the same routine that is danced over and over again. The gentleman is of course still allowed to lead. 

Konrad Krackau

More, very detailed information are to be found on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_dance