The style of dance in Germanic regions varies greatly as you go from region to region within German, Austria and Switzerland. In the northern part of Germany, 4-couple dances (Quadrille or square dance) are most common. In the southern part of Germany, couple dances are prevalant.
Several of the dances exist in neighboring regions with slightly different music, steps, and names. For instance Dätscher is the name of a simple clapping dance in Bavaria, while in the Schwabenland it is called Patscher. The difference between the two is a very small difference in teh clapping sequence and a music change to accompany that. The dance Kreuzpolka is a very common dance in Germany and it exists in many forms in several different regions.
The German dances that most Americans know are but a small subset of the dances native to Germany, and are usually not the ones most commonly danced there. One example is the Zwiefache which is a dance form commonly known to Ameriacan "international folkdancers". The way it is danced by folkdancers in the USA is quite different than how it is danced in Germany.
Look at the dance reference websites for information about many of the specific dances.
This page is located at: http://www.germandance.org/general.html